CIjc §roln« or oDahjiiji 



(Sy7'imt7n Aluco.) 



By C. F. DRUITT. 



TO any one who has had a fair opportunity of studying 

 its habits, this bird is one of the most interesting on 

 the British list. It is fairly common in England and 

 Scotland, but in Ireland it is unknown. On account of its 

 retired habits and sober plumage, it is not so often seen as 

 heard. Its weird, nocturnal hoot must be familiar to almost 

 all dwellers in the country. Unlike the barn owl, it does not 

 haunt old buildings and towers, but prefers the solitude and 

 dark recesses of the woods. I have heard it, though not 

 very often, in the Leigh Woods, Clifton. 



The bird is chiefly, though not entirely, nocturnal in its 

 habits. I do not believe, however, that it often makes 

 voluntary peregrinations by day, as it is then almost invari- 

 ably mobbed by a concourse of insulting birds chiefly of the 

 small varieties, which drive it from place to place, keeping 

 up a noisy chattering all the while ; nor do they leave it 

 until at last the tormented owl thankfully reaches some 

 secluded refuge such as that from which it was originally 

 disturbed. 



I remember on one occasion, whilst wandering in broad 

 daylight through a wood near Dolgelly, hearing loud 



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