64 THE SENSES OF ANIMALS 



you may be able to study a pair of owls hunting in concert, 

 and this is not only most instructive but is a very thrilling 

 sight. It is true that more often than not a single owl may 

 be observed, and this will be more difficult to watch since 

 lone owls often cover more territory than when a pair hunt 

 together. What happens when a dual hunt is about to begin 

 or is in progress will be something after the following pattern 

 of behaviour. 



These dual hunts seem to take place mostly in the autunm 

 and winter, possibly because prey is more difficult to come 

 by then. The male bird acts as if it were a spaniel at work 

 flushing game. He ffies along over a hedge or just inside a 

 piece of open woodland every now and then uttering the 

 hunting call usually written as "kewick". The female ffies 

 parallel with her mate and does the killing. I am not stating 

 that this can be observed frequently unless the student has 

 a great deal of time to spend at a known hunting area ; I have 

 only witnessed it myself three times, but on each of these 

 occasions the method of hunting has been exactly the same. 

 The nights in question were moonlit ones and therefore it is 

 reasonable to assume that the owls doing the killing were 

 guided by sight. Whether on dark nights the same process 

 is used, the owls being guided by hearing, I cannot say ; but 

 it would be well worth while carrying out some organized 

 observations on dark nights as well as light ones. 



Experiments designed to test the sight of owls can also be 

 carried out with tame owls so long as these are really under 

 control and have reached the stage of pouncing on prey 

 themselves. They must be taught to do this by letting them 

 have flying room either in a large aviary or in a barn or 

 similar place. A dead mouse must be tied by the tail to a 

 long length of thread and drawn along the floor within the 

 owl's vision. Most tame young owls will soon react and will 

 swoop down and seize the mouse. Once it has grasped the 

 mouse the owl will spread its wings protectively over the kill, 

 and one must then approach quietly and gently with a pair 

 of scissors in gloved hands and snip off the thread a few 

 inches from the owl — the small piece of thread will do no 

 harm and will eventually be cast up with the pellet ejected 

 the next day. 



