33G Raptorial Birds of the Solway Area. 



realise what a magnificent engine for a specific purpose is before 

 you. 



Barn Owls are not nearly so common with us in Solway as 

 was once the case. Close observers of the bird are agreed that 

 throughout Great Britain this species is decreasing sadly in some 

 parts, while in none is it doing more than holding its own. 

 While persecution by game preservers is, of course, mainly to 

 blame, still a strong agency for its decline will probably be found 

 in some, as yet, mysterious modification of climate. With us, 

 I am pretty certain, there has been a marked withdrawal towards 

 the warmer, sea coast districts, just as it has been with the House 

 Martins. 



Now-a-days the Barn Owl is oftenest seen along the cliffy 

 parts of the Galloway shore. Here it frequents the caverns and 

 crannies in the rocks, where nests may be found from April to 

 September. Of late years rats have become far more plentiful 

 than was formerly the case, and these nasty rodents positively 

 swarm along the coast, feeding on mollusks and garbage of all 

 kinds that is so often strewn along the tide line. Late in the 

 gloaming the Barn Owls may often be observed working along the 

 wrack and pouncing down on a rat every here and there. The 

 unfortunate quadruped has barely time to squeak before it is 

 borne off, a dangling corpse, to the nestful of snoring, spluttering 

 youngsters up in the cliff. 



The second species of Owl that comes under notice is the 



Brown Owl. 



If I were asked to name the voice amongst the birds that 

 we should miss most if birds and their notes were to be entirely 

 eliminated from sight and sound, after the entrancing double 

 note of the Cuckoo, I should unreservedly place that of the Brown 

 Owl. What a grand thing it is to hear the hooting of the Owls 

 repeated, and replied to, from different directions, on a quiet 

 night ! 



This Owl is our commonest species, and is decidedly in- 

 creasing. It is one of the protected birds, and, apart from the 

 fact, general public opinion is against its slaughter, while on 

 many estates it is very rigidly ensured against the desire of the 

 keepers to slay it. 



J 



