BIRD-LIFE ON THE MOORS IN EARLY SPRING. 21 



do not appear to resent this usurpation — must, indeed, 

 admire it, for they one year themselves proceeded to usurp 

 the nest of a Wood-Pigeon close by, and laid their eggs 

 alongside the Cushats' pair. This year they built another 

 nest in a spruce-fir, not a hundred yards away, and on 

 May 4th had seven eggs. The Owls at that date had two 

 large young, one already able to fly, besides three addled 

 eggs, in the Hawks' former abode. 



A peculiarity in the habits of these Owls {Strix otiis), after 

 the breeding season, deserves a remark. As soon as the young 

 were fledged the whole of the Owls associated together, per- 

 haps three or four broods, old and young, into a single 

 family, and chose a thick, black Scotch fir for their abode. 

 Here they all passed the day. To this particular tree the 

 whole of the owl-life of those woods resorted regularly at 

 dawn, and in it slept away the hours of da^dight, hidden 

 amidst its deep, evergreen recesses. At the particular tree 

 of their choice — it varied in different years — the Owls could 

 invariably be interviewed, during the summer and autumn, 

 though, to a casual eye, it was difficult amidst the deep 

 shadows of the foliage to distinguish the slim brown forms 

 pressed closely against the brown branches of the pine. 

 Towards dusk their awakening was notified by the querulous, 

 cat-like cry ; ten minutes later, their silent forms appeared 

 outside the wood, and after a few rounds of preliminary 

 gyrations, it was dark enough to commence operations in 

 earnest. During the nesting season the old Owls have 

 another cry — not unlike the petulant barking of a spoiled 

 lap-dog. 



In the larger woods and those of older growth we have 

 the big Tawny Owl {Syniiiun Alaco). This is the species 

 whose startling cries often make night hideous — or interest- 

 ing, according as their melancholy cadences affect the fancy 

 of the listener. The Tawny Owl nests almost as early as 

 the Eared species, having eggs by March 25th ; it does not, 

 however, like the latter, require any nest, properly so called, 

 but lays its eggs in some hollow tree. If, in the wood they 

 frequent, there exists an old tree, rotten and hollow to the 

 stump, it will in all probability be selected year after year 



