EUROPEAN SCREECH-OWL. 479 



rass him, while the larger will not hesitate to attack him with 

 their bills and wings. The Blue Tit, being among the boldest 

 of our little birds, takes a prominent part in these proceedings, 

 and the Chaffinch, gentle as it is, distinguishes itself by its vo- 

 ciferous animosity. Sometimes this Owl reposes in the upper 

 part of a tree in a dense wood, or even in a thicket ; and should 

 it be discovered in the latter situation by any of these birds, 

 their outcries presently bring a band of enemies around it. But 

 although the Barn Owl is thus so imbecile by day as to suffer 

 itself to be insulted with impunity by the pettiest aggressor, it 

 assumes a very different character when darkness restores to it 

 the faculty of clearly distinguishing objects. 



By watching near its haunts, or taking his station in the 

 neighbourhood of some farm-steading frequented by it, one 

 may dimly see it advance with silent and gliding flight, skim- 

 ming over the fields, shooting along the hedge-bank, deviating 

 this way and that, and now perhaps sweeping over head, with- 

 out causing the slightest sound by the flappings of its downy 

 wings. On perceiving an object, it drops to the ground, se- 

 cures its prey in a moment, and uttering a shrill cry, flies off 

 with it in its claws. In a little time it returns, and thus 

 continues prowling about the farm-yard for hours. The do- 

 mestic mouse, Wood Mouse, Common Arvicola, Shrew, Lark, 

 and young birds of different species, are the objects which I 

 have found in its stomach. The mice are generally swallowed 

 entire, often without their bones being broken, but the birds 

 are torn to pieces. Young hares and rabbits, as well as lepi- 

 dopterous and coleopterous insects are said by several persons 

 to form part of its food. Mr Waterton, whose opportunities 

 of observing its habits are unrivalled, he having in a manner 

 domesticated this species, informs us that it carries off rats, 

 and occasionally catches fish. " Some years ago," he says, 

 " on a fine evening, in the month of July, long before it was 

 dark, as I was standing on the middle of the bridge, and minut- 

 ing the owl by my watch, as she brought mice into her nest, all 

 on a sudden she dropt perpendicularly into the water. Think- 

 ing that she had fallen down in epilepsy, my first thoughts 

 were to go and fetch the boat ; but before I had well got to the 



