BARX-OWL. 291 



are eaten, the House-Sparrow being a favourite prey. These 

 are captured at night when at roost in ivy and evergreens. 

 The fur and bones of the creatures devoured, together with the 

 elytra of beetles, on which it also feeds, are regurgitated in the 

 form of oblong pellets or " plugs," a habit common to most 

 insectivorous and animal-feeding birds. Examination of these 

 pellets reveals the favourite food of any particular Owl ; in 

 14 I found remains of 73 separate animals, 33 being shrews 

 and 20 voles. iMammals so large as a rat will be swallowed 

 whole, the tail often hanging for hours from the mouth whilst 

 digestion of the swallowed portion progresses. The tail, pelvic 

 girdle and legs, with the almost complete skin of the rat, curiously 

 reversed, is finally disgorged. My bird hid surplus food in the 

 rafters of its shed. When the young are being fed the Barn- 

 Owl will hunt in the daytime, but as a rule it does not set forth 

 until after dusk. 



(>^o nest is made, but the four to eight, or even more white 

 eggs (Plate 131) are often placed on a layer of dry pellets 

 amongst the rafters of a barn, house, church tower or other 

 building, or in a hollow tree or crevice in a rock. They are 

 laid usually late in April, and though laid at intervals of several 

 days are incubated at once ; thus eggs and young of varying 

 age jj;e found in the nest at the same time. A second brood is 

 usual^and eggs in December are recorded. The young at first 

 are clad in thick white down. 



The colour of the upper parts is orange-buff, vermiculated 

 with grey, and spotted with grey and white; the under parts 

 are white with a few dark grey spots. Round the eyes the 

 facial disc is rusty, and the white bill is almost hidden by a 

 double ridge of white feathers. The legs are clothed down to 

 the feet with white hair-like feathers ; the toes are dusky, the 

 claws brown, the irides almost black. In the Dark-breasted 

 migratory form the under parts are buff and more thickly 

 spotted, the facial disc is often rusty red throughout, and the 



