44 STEIGIDJE. 



been very ill fitted for such a post, being witliout doubt 

 an exceedingly rapacious and destructive bird, as may be 

 inferred from the following narrative : — 



"One day in the month of Jul}^, a young bird, havmg 

 quitted the nest, was caught by the servants. This bird 

 was, considering the season of the year, well feathered ; 

 but the down appeared here and there between those 

 feathers which had not yet attained their full growth. 

 After it was caught, it was shut up in a large hen-coop, 

 when, on the following morning, a fine young Partridge 

 was found lying dead before the door of the coop. It 

 was immediately concluded that this provision had been 

 brought there by the old Owls, which no doubt had 

 been making search in the night-time for their lost 

 young one. And such was indeed the fact ; for night 

 after night, for fourteen days, was this same mark of 

 attention repeated. The game which the old ones carried 

 to it consisted chielly of young Partridges,, for the most 

 part newly killed, but sometimes a little spoiled. On one 

 occasion a Moor-fowl was brought, so fresh that it was 

 actually warm under the wings; and at another time a 

 putrid lamb was deposited." '^ 



The Eagle-Owl is not only the strongest and best 

 armed of all the birds of prey next to the Eagle, but its 

 attack is inevitable, because it strikes in the dark, and 

 its flight is so noiseless that its prey has no warning of 

 its approach. Some authors assert that when it has young 

 to feed, it extends its hunting expeditions into the day ; 

 this may well be the case, for even the Earn-Owl, when 

 in captivity, though most active during night, is ready to 

 receive food at all hours when hungry. The favourite food 

 of the Eagle-Owl is the hare, the partridge, and other 

 game. In America, it preys on the Wild Turkey, which, 

 though weighing from ten to twenty pounds, it finds no 

 difficulty in transporting to a considerable distance. Wheu 

 * Stanley's British Birds, p. 154. 



