36 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
prey, and that so deeply that instant death is gene- 
rally the result. 
It is to this same structure, it may here be re- 
marked, that birds owe their power of perching for 
hours together upon a branch without suffering from 
fatigue. 
The barn-owl seems to be fully aware of the power 
and sharpness of its natural weapons, and is always 
ready and willing to use them in self-defence, even 
against a greatly superior foe. A case is on record 
in which a dog was completely blinded by one of 
these owls, which struck violently at the poor animal 
as it approached, and drove a talon into each of its 
eyes. Even man himself is tolerably sure to suffer 
severely if he is foolish enough to seize the bird with 
unprotected hands, for the claws cut like so many 
knives, and the bird wields them with such agility 
and address that it is by no means easy to avoid their 
stroke. When thus fighting, the bird always rolls 
over upon its back, in order to use its feet to the best 
advantage. 
As to the fer contra of the barn-owl, accusations 
against him are wonderfully few. Excepting for his 
supposed connexion with the powers of evil, in fact, 
I can find but two counts against him, neither of a 
very serious nature. 
The first, which comes to me from a friend, on the 
authority of a Norfolk gamekeeper, is, in the words 
of the former, as follows :— 
‘Our gamekeeper told me that he has seen a 
barn-owl (S¢vix flammea) sit on the top of a coop 
