170 British Owls. 



in most districts, and the "Hoo-lioo" in woods at night must 

 be a familiar sound to most people. " Making night 

 hideous " is an expression I have sometimes heard in reier- 

 ence to their long-drawn wailing note, but, personally, I like 

 to hear them, which is, jjerhaps, iortunate, as my tame birds 

 a^ttract their wild kind and practice vocal duets alwut a dozen 

 yards from my bedroom window. A pair oi Tawny Owls in 

 my aviary, nest regularly every year. The fema'e makes a 

 most devoted mother, yet never loses her excessive tameness. 

 As a rule. Owls defend their young with great courage, and 

 strongly resent anybody approaching the nest, but my bird 

 "Flufl"' is ridiculously tame and loving. The moment she 

 hears my voice, she calls me in a soi't prolonged trill; if I 

 fail to go in response, she positively wails like a child, and 

 will not be pacified until I have comforted her by calling her 

 all the endearing names I can think of, and stroking and 

 scratching her head. To show how extremely gentle she is, I 

 may add that she will let me take her feggs up and look at 

 them while she '" trills " haj^pily to me. Alter this you will not 

 be surprised to hear that Flutf is very much my favourite 

 among my Owls. I am fond of them all, but Fiuil is facile 

 princeps. The Tawny is not a particularly sleepy Owl. Aline 

 always seem fairly aiert in the day-time, and will run up to 

 me to get a mouse or sparrow when I ofter these delicacies. 

 This species is very ioad of bathing in contradistinction to the 

 Little Owl which is noL fond of water. 



One of the sleepiest is the Barn Owl {Strix flammea, 

 Linnaeus), who scarcely opens his eyes in the day-time, much 

 less eats: Consequently they are not so attractive in confine- 

 ment as- the Tawny species, although extremely quaint. The 

 appearance of a Barn Owl is more striking than any other 

 I know of. Tiie majority of those I have kept have been 

 tame and quite gentle, but not very sociable with their 

 keeper. If disturbed during the day they reel backwards and 

 lorwards on their perches in a most curious way, reminding 

 one forcibly of the movements of an intoxicated man. An- 

 other habit of a rather wild Barn Owl I had, was to "play 

 'possum." If I took himin my hand and put him back after- 

 wards, on the aviary floor, he would lie on his side motionless 

 with eyes closed, nor would he move from this position until 



