20 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



may be used, and, moving with certain ease in the 

 inner darkness, the bird regains its haunt. 



It is not difficult to see how the Owl family have 

 become linked with so many popular superstitions. 

 Their habit of haunting churchyards, their sound- 

 less movements, the unearthly cries w-ith w hich they 

 suddenly break the stillness of the summer's night, 

 alike affect the imagination. 



" Out on ye : Owls? Nothing but songs of death."' 



But although the Owls may not attend the windows 

 of dying jDcrsons to bear away their souls, they 

 are, none the less, mysterious messengers of fate 

 for many populous communities. 



The number of mice and other small creatures 

 destroyed in regions where Owls are at all plentiful, 

 may be roughly estimated from the following facts : 

 After the manner of Haw'ks, the Owls cast up the 

 bones, fur and feathers of what they devour, and 

 these "pellets," or "castings," afford data from 

 which the relative characters and quantities of their 

 prey may be arrived at. A German naturalist, 

 quoted by the editor of White's Selborne, collected 

 these castings at different seasons of the year, for 

 examination. In 706 castings of the Barn Owl he 

 found the remains of 16 bats, 3 rats, 237 house- 

 mice, 693 field-mice, 1590 shrews, i mole and 22 

 small birds. 



The flight of these night-feeding birds is perhaps 

 their most interesting peculiarity. How is the airy 

 buoyancy attained which enables them to waft 

 themselves, soundless as shadows, along the dark 

 hedgerows and across the gloom-hidden fields? In 



