184 NATURAL HISTORY 
well-fledged wild-fowls alive, which upon examina. 
tion I found to be Tears. I did not know till then 
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a SSE Sa en 
that teals ever built in the south of England, and 
was much pleased with the discovery: this I look 
upon as a great stroke in natural history. 
We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair 
of white owls that constantly place their nest under 
the eaves of this church. As I have paid good 
attention to the manner of life of these birds during 
the summer through, the following remarks may 
not, perhaps, be unacceptable. About an hour be- 
fore sunset (for then the mice begin to run) they 
sally forth in quest of prey, and hunt all round the 
hedges of meadows and small enclosures for them, 
which seem to be their only food. In this irregular 
country we can stand on an eminence and see them 
beat the fields over like a setting-dog, and often 
drop down in the grass or corn. I have minuted 
these birds with my watch for an hour together, 
and have found that they return to their nest, the 
one or the other of them, about once in five minutes ; 
reflecting, at the same time, on the adroitness that 
