THE OWLS 169 



surface of the dike, and all was over; nor does my friend 

 wish to fight any more owl. He saj's the brute was most 

 savage and terrible-looking; and what a poor mouse must 

 feel when he sees that great creature pounce upon him 

 must be left to the imagination. 



The Long-Eared or Horned Owl 



is to be found in the plantings and cars by the broad-sides ; 

 but he is now rarely to be seen, although once I saw one 

 on a gate-post in the high noontide. But his curious voice 

 can be heard for a mile. An old keeper, who once had 

 charge of some coppices abutting on a broad, told me this 

 bird is fonder of the sparrow than an^^thing else, and that 

 he once found nine sparrows with their heads off near his 

 nest. He says they lay five eggs when young, but only three 

 later on, generally choosing an old pigeon's nest to lay in at 

 the end of May. One of these birds once took a nest full 

 of young swallows from the eaves of his cottage. 



The Short-Eared or Marsh-Owl, 



as the fenmen call him, or the " little horned owl," as others 

 call him, is sometimes flushed in the shooting season, when 

 he is mistaken by the inexperienced for a " woodcock." But 

 from the few specimens I have seen, it seems to me, in a 

 fair light, this mistake is inexcusable ; but then I was not 

 after woodcock, and so had not woodcock on the brain. 

 This owl has the flight of a kittiwake ; the woodcock has 

 not. But I have never seen many, and never yet a nest. 

 The last nest I knew of taken in the district was in the year 

 1882, therein being six eggs. A friend, a fenman, who 

 found another nest in 1878, gives the following account. 

 He has, moreover, taken several " mash-owl's neasts " in 

 his time. He said : — 



" I was mash-mowing 'bout a quarter of a mile off the 



