BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 33 



said, is that it is rarely known to perch on trees. 

 I think this statement must be taken with some 

 quaUfication. That the bird prefers open spaces, 

 and does not systematically take to the woods, is 

 true. It is commonly flushed from rough bent- 

 grass, and even from turnips, and year by year, 

 when Grouse-shooting, I have seen it rise from 

 the open heather. But often, when the wooded 

 ravines in the sea-cliffs near Flamborough are 

 beaten for Woodcock, this Owl is found in the 

 trees. On one occasion I saw^ three driven out, one 

 of which, after taking its desultory course over the 

 tree-tops, alighted on the bough of a low ash. 



Owing to its conspicuous colouring, and to the 

 fact that it lives in or about places occupied by 

 man, the Barn Owl is perhaps the most familiar 

 of its race. In addition to farm-buildings, it some- 

 times affects hollow trees and clefts in rocks or 

 walls, but it has won its sombre reputation, in 

 poetry especially, by reason of its affection for 

 ancient, ivy-covered belfries and deserted ruins 

 generally. Here, with its nocturnal flight and 

 weird, eldritch shriek — the Barn Owl rarely hoots 

 —it supplies the touch of living mystery which the 

 poet instinctively feels to be fitting. The moping 

 Owl which complained to the moon in Gray's 

 Elegy was probably a Tawny. 



The Nightjar is the only truly British represent- 

 ative of its family, although two other species — 

 the Red-necked and the Egyptian^are said to have 

 occurred in this country. 

 3 



