BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 25 



clear hoot — the "Tu-whit — Tu-whoo" of Shake- 

 speare — which has come to be typical of the family, 

 startling one as they do in solitudes so widely 

 spread, it seems fair to assume that the Taw^ny is 

 by far the most plentiful of the British Owls. 



The Tawnv Owl feeds chiefly upon field-mice, 

 voles, beetles, and occasionally upon birds. When 

 Pheasants are being reared at the woodside, it fre- 

 quents the coops, where it is commonly shot by 

 the keepers. Although it cannot be acquitted of 

 the charge of destroying game, this is still a ques- 

 tionable policy, for its visits are most probably 

 due to the rats which collect about the feeding-pens 

 at night. These vermin are dangerous neighbours 

 for the Pheasant poults, and the Owl is the most 

 efficient rat-catcher in existence. I once placed a 

 pair of young Tawny Owls in an outdoor aviary 

 which had become infested with rats and mice. At 

 intervals through the night one could hear the 

 thud of the pouncing birds on the wooden floor, 

 and the terror-stricken squeaks of the victims. As 

 Owls move through the air with the buoyancy of 

 thistle-down, I was struck with the violence dis- 

 played. The birds themselves were probably dis- 

 concerted by the contact with a hard surface hi 

 place of the grassv hollows where the descent is 

 usually made, but it became clear that their airily 

 light forms are capable of a most fierce and forcible 

 onslaught. 



In common with the Tawny and Barn Owls, the 

 Long-eared Owl is a resident species in Great 

 Britain, and in appearance it is one of the most 



