44 The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 
BARN OWL, S¢rix flammea.—A resident far from common. In 
driving about the county we have very seldom seen any of these 
Owls beating the fields for mice in the dusk of a summer’s eve. 
We had one or two inhabiting some old ivy-covered ash trees 
in the covers at Stone Hall, and occasionally saw one flushed 
when we were shooting through woods in the north of the 
county, but we believe in Pembrokeshire the majority of the 
Barn Owls find their abodes in nooks and crannies in cliffs, 
both inland and on the coast. We were informed that Barn 
Owls are numerous on Skomer Island, there inhabiting such 
places as we have described. The Rev. C. M. Phelps knew of 
a colony of Barn Owls in the Coygan, a huge mass of lime- 
stone rock, close to Laugharne Marsh. ‘The old castles, such 
as Carew, Pembroke, &c., also afford, in their ivy-clad ruins, 
suitable nesting places. Although the Barn Owl is generally a 
solitary recluse, we have, in our experience, met with two in- 
stances of its living in society in such numbers that the associa- 
tion might fairly be termed an “ Owlery.” One of these had its 
location in some old cottages, just below a beautiful Henry 
VII. church tower. The roofs of the cottages all communi- 
cated, and were tenanted by such a number of Barn Owls that 
at last the cottagers rose up against them, being annoyed by 
the smell and the noises proceeding from the birds, and we 
were informed that between forty and fifty were either driven 
out or destroyed. The other instance of an “ Owlery” oc- 
curred in the roof of a country house, where the venerable birds 
might have been undisturbed had they kept themselves from 
the young Pheasants, whose coops were at no distance from the 
house. But one season when every ove of the young Pheasants 
had been carried off war was proclaimed, and the roof entered, 
and about a dozen adult Owls were found and killed, besides 
Owlets in various stages of growth. The floor was discovered to 
be littered over with the remains of the Pheasants. Tell it not 
in Gath! Mr. Dix writes that in his district the Barn Owl was 
“ not common ; I have only seen two specimens during the past 
year.” 
