SPRING-TIME ON" THE MOORS 43 



the evidence of floods that presently may rise to destroy 

 their home. Dippers' nests are ofttimes fixed on a big 

 boulder islanded in mid-stream, others in the wing-walls 

 of bridges, or on overhung rock-ledges. 



Inside, the nest is dry and warm, and the eggs 

 number five or six — pure white, but showing a pretty 

 pink blush when freshly laid. The young are already 

 on wing in April — second broods up to June — and 

 from the first take lovingly to the water, diving like 

 water-rats long before they can fly. 



Level, in point of date, come the Owls. The tawny 

 owl {Syruuun aluco) is thoroughly characteristic, nest- 

 ing in all the larger deciduous woods of ancient growth, 

 and startling the nocturnal echoes with their sonorous 

 hoo-hoo-hooo — or, as Shakespeare put it, too-whit, too- 

 hoo. In Morocco, the Arabs render it by their phonetic 

 name, Bii-rii-ru. Some hollowed tree in the deep wood, 

 a cavernous centenarian, will serve year after year for 

 a home. There is no nest — the eggs lie amid scraps 

 of touchwood ; the entrance, three feet long, sometimes 

 four, vertically above, may yet be a mere slit scarce four 

 inches in width — very inconvenient, one would think, 

 for so large a bird. March 25th is the date of laying, 

 and the eggs usually number three. 



I have noticed some curious habits of this species at 

 Houxty. Here, where my immediate neighbours are 

 mostly feathered, furred, or scaled, 1 the tawny owl 

 abounds. A favourite stance is in an immemorial elm 

 just outside my window, where (much as I love the owls) 

 a continuous serenade, shocking the silence of night 

 in alto staccato, is occasionally inconvenient during the 



1 I hasten to explain that this does not apply to all: there are those 

 whose epidermis is cpuite beyond suspicion. 



