18 J. E. LITTLEBOT — THE BIRDS OF OITE DISTEICT. 



to be leverets, young rabbits, partridges, thrushes, larks, etc., but he 

 does not despise, by way of variety, a few young chickens, and I 

 have seen him hovering, in a very suspicious manner, over our own 

 poultry. I am informed by a friend that he noticed a large wood- 

 pigeon in the clutches of a sparrow-hawk, and that, although the 

 pigeon was still warm, its head and a portion of its neck had been 

 eaten ofp. 



Of owls we have only two or three varieties. The common bam 

 owl is to be found in almost all districts. Wherever an old barn or 

 an accessible roof can be made available for shelter, he is pretty 

 certain to become a constant visitor. One of our servants was 

 desperately frightened, one moonlight evening, by suddenly dis- 

 covering a barn owl, which she persisted in calliag a "death-bird," 

 demurely sitting on the wall that divides our garden. Barn owls 

 formerly frequented a hole in one of the trees at the Little Elms, 

 "Watford. The tree, as many will remember, was broken off by the 

 wind. Two dead birds were found in the stump that remains, and it 

 is believed that the rest gf the family perished with their adopted 

 home. Concerning the brown or tawny owl I have only one memo- 

 randum ; I find that thirteen of these birds were driven at one time 

 from Mr. Blackwell's pigeon-house at Chipperfield. An owl con- 

 siderably smaller than either of the species I have mentioned has 

 been frequently observed in the chestnut trees at Gaddesden Hoo. 

 It has a weird unearthly screech, but up to the present time it has 

 not been possible to identify it. I have also to record that a speci- 

 men of the short-eared owl {Asio accipitrmics), a species that is only 

 an occasional autumnal visitor in the southern counties, was recently 

 shot at South End, near Redbourn. My hearers will remember 

 that the owl has played a rather prominent part in mythological 

 story. It was the favourite bird of Minerva, and many of the 

 silver coins struck at Athens have the representation of an owl on 

 the reverse side, as an emblem of Pallas Athena, the tutelar goddess 

 of that city. 



Among Carnivorous birds the red-backed shrike, or butcher-bird, 

 must not be omitted. During the past summer I have seen an 

 unusual number of these birds ; indeed, I have rarely driven any 

 distance from home without meeting with one or more of them. The 

 male bird is especially handsome and can hardly fail to be observed. 

 Like so many among the interesting group in natural history that 

 we have under consideration, the red-backed shrike possesses a 

 peculiar adaptability to the exigencies of its nature. Its strong bill 

 is abruptly hooked at the end, and the notch is so deep as to form 

 a small tooth more or less prominent on each side. By this con- 

 formation the bird is enabled to take a firm grasp of its food and to 

 tear it in pieces. The claws also arc remarkably strong and sharp. 

 Many curious facts are recorded respecting the ways and doings of 

 the red-backed shrike. Its food consists principally of mice, small 

 birds, frogs, lizards, grasshoppers, beetles, and cockchafers. It is 

 stated that after catching and killing its victim, it will impale it on 

 a thorn and thus leave it, as a tit-bit, to be consumed at leisui'e, or 



