EUROPEAN SCREECH-OWL. 481 



from two to five in number, an inch and a half in length, an 

 inch and a quarter in breadth, and thus of a broadly elliptical 

 form, are pure white and smooth. The young are at first 

 covered with white down. It appears that several broods are 

 produced annually, for young birds have been found in? the 

 nest from April to December. Mr Blyth, in the Field Natu- 

 ralists' Magazine, Vol. I, p. 1 87, states that a nest of the Barn 

 Owl was found in the neighbourhood of Tooting, containing 

 " two eggs, and when these were hatched two more were laid, 

 which latter were probably hatched by the warmth of the 

 young birds ; a third laying took place after the latter were 

 hatched, and the nest at last contained six young Owls of 

 three different ages, which were all reared." 



The Barn Owl is more extensively distributed, and more 

 numerous, in Britain than any other species. Few ruined 

 buildings of large size are destitute of a pair ; but it is very 

 seldom met with in the wilder and bleaker districts, or in the 

 northern isles. Its favourite haunts are in the cultivated and 

 sheltered parts of the country, where meadows and corn-fields 

 foster the animals on which it habitually preys. In most parts 

 of England it is not very uncommon, and the same may be 

 said of the southern and middle divisions of Scotland. There 

 can be no doubt that, whatever little depredations it may oc- 

 casionally make upon the gamekeeper's charge, it ought to be 

 protected as a benefactor to the farmer. This will especially 

 appear from the following account of it given by my friend 

 Mr Hepburn. 



" The Barn Owl is by no means a very common bird in our 

 part of East Lothian. Shortly before sunset it leaves its retreat, 

 skims along the hedge-rows, hunts over the meadows and corn- 

 fields like a spaniel, and drops suddenly on its quarry. You 

 see him approach the homestead, on noiseless wing tlireadinc 

 the labyrinth of stacks. He now enters the outhouses or the 

 barn, and speedily reappears, with a mouse in his claws. 

 Perching on the top of a stack he devours his prey, preens 

 his feathers, and shrieks. Should plenty of food occur, he 

 will remain all night, and visit the place very frequently. It 

 is at this time, especially if the weather be fine, that mice 



