WOOD-OWL. 157 
_so than the present species; and when by accident driven from its place 
of concealment during the day into the sunshine, it seems utterly bewildered, 
forming a butt for all the smaller birds, who mob it unmercifully. During 
the summer the adult Tawny Owl is not heard to hoot so frequently, the cries 
heard at that season being from the young, and usually uttered in the day- 
time. It is in the autumn nights when its voice is heard to perfection ; 
and it keeps up its cry with little intermission until the following breeding- 
season. ‘This note is most frequently uttered in the evenings and just 
before dawn, and, although somewhat weird in tone, is far from melancholy. 
In the pairing-season the male bird has a peculiar call, which sounds 
singularly wild and uncanny. 
During the moulting-season, in July and August, the Tawny Owl does 
not leave its forest home; but when that time has passed it will often, 
with its young, visit the farmyards and villages in search of prey, or 
hunt the stubbles and open fields. In the dark and foggy days of winter 
this Owl is sometimes seen abroad before sunset. 
Tawny Owls, to a certain extent, are migratory ; but the birds that breed 
in our own land probably never quit their old home. In the autumn they 
are frequently taken in the flight-nets on the low-lying coasts—sometimes 
as many as half a dozen being caught together in a single night, leading 
to the conclusion that they perform their annual wanderings in company. 
These migrants come from northern lands, where the winters are severe, 
and of the small mammals and birds the former are all lying dormant 
during the long northern night, and the latter have sped away to a 
southern haunt to escape its severity. 
It is very probable that the Tawny Owl pairs for life, and confines itself 
to one district if left undisturbed, although it seldom nests in the same 
hole each successive year, but, like many of the raptorial birds, has two 
or three favourite spots, usmg each in turn. It breeds somewhat earlier 
than the Barn-Owl, its eggs often being laid early im March. But the eggs 
and unfledged young are sometimes taken throughout the summer up to 
the month of August; it is therefore possible that this bird has two or 
more broods in the year. ‘The bird’s daily roosting-place, however, is not 
always its nesting-site ; for it will sometimes frequent dense ivy-clumps or 
pine trees, only quitting them during the breeding-season. Usually the 
eggs are laid in a hole in a tree—in some cavity in a venerable moss and 
lichen-covered oak, or in the interior of a beech or elm whose trunk is 
rifted and decayed into a dozen suitable nesting-places. Occasionally the 
bird will rear its young in a similar situation to that which the Barn-Owl 
selects. It will also sometimes breed in an old Wood-Pigeon’s nest or 
squirrel’s “drey ” in an ivy-covered tree, and at other times will choose 
a deserted nest of a Crow or Magpie. More extraordinary choice, how- 
ever, still, is a hole in the ground. Mr. Gurney records that in Norfolk 
