BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 197 



and they seem to know instinctively that Owls are their 

 enemies, for when an Owl is caught in the open in day- 

 time, bewildered and dazed by the light, it is mobbed by 

 the small birds, which sleep in terror of it at night. 

 Blue-Tits and Chaffinches are often prominent in their 

 boldness among these small persecutors. Large insects, 

 occasional worms, and various small fry are taken by 

 some of our Owls ; some foreign species have specialised 

 in fishing, and at least one British Owl has been ob- 

 served in occasional pursuit of the art. The prey is 

 usually pounced on, killed at once by the talons, 

 transferred to the beak if small, or borne off in the 

 talons if too heavy for the beak. If the prey is too 

 large to be swallowed whole it is necessarily torn up ; 

 but a mouse, for instance, is swallowed entire. The 

 bones, skin, and other indigestible parts of the food are 

 afterwards thrown up in the form of pellets. This habit 

 is shared by most predaceous birds, using the word in 

 the widest sense, without reference to the natural Orders 

 to which they belong. In the Owls it is particularly 

 well marked, and great quantities of these castings may 

 often be found at a nesting-site. 



The Barn-Owl is almost world wide in its distribution, 

 and in the British Isles it is abundant and widespread 

 except in Scotland, where it is local, becoming almost 

 unknown towards the north. It is for the most part a 

 resident and sedentary species, but immigrations from the 

 Continent have been recorded in some winters. 



As the name implies, this Owl resorts to bams and 

 other buildings for the piu^ose of nesting. Church towers, 

 ruins, and even cliffs are also chosen, and dovecots are 

 sometimes used, apparently without harm to the rightful 

 inhabitants. Nest in the strict sense there is none ; 

 the eggs are often laid in the midst of the disgorged 



