206 THE BROWN OR TAWNY OWL. 



Yarrell mentions a case in which, a pair of brown owls 

 brought up their brood in a tree near a magpies' nest, with 

 which birds they had frequent combats ; at last the remains 

 of the young magpies were found under the owls' tree, and 

 in one instance the head and feathers of one of the old 

 magpies. 



The tawny owl, although not maliciously disposed, does 

 sometimes resent an approach to its nest, and has been 

 known to inflict serious injuries on human beings when it 

 has young. 



Some friends of mine knew of a boy in Devonshire who 

 had an eye torn out by a brown owl whilst the lad was 

 attempting to rob its nest. 



I will relate an instance of an attack made by this bird 

 which came under my personal observation, although I am 

 glad to say in this case no grave result followed. It was on 

 the evening of May 5th, 1891. Whilst looking out of one of 

 the windows of a house in Wiltshire, where I was staying, I 

 noticed two brown owls moving about amongst the branches 

 of a large elm some little distance off. Presently one of the 

 birds seemed to flutter in a somewhat helpless manner to 

 the ground. I waited to see what would happen, as a man 

 was crossing the field and would pass near the foot of the 

 tree. The bird on the ground, instead of making any 

 attempt to fly off, remained so still that it w^as not noticed. 

 I left the window to make my way to the spot, but before I 

 could reach it, I met another man coming towards the house 

 with the owl, young tawny, under one arm, whilst with the 

 other he held his handkerchief to his neck, which was 

 bleeding pretty freely. He told me that whilst stooping- 

 down to pick up the a young owl, the old bird suddenly 

 dashed at him, and struck him on the neck with one of her 

 talons. 



