38 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
April, cockchafers; May, rats, squirrels, and cock- 
chafers ; June, meal-worms, beetles, and shrew-mice ; 
July, mice, ground and other beetles; August to 
November, shrew and other mice.” 
Dr. Altam, in the course of a rather limited inves- 
tigation, found that this owl fed principally upon 
field-voles, for in twenty-five pellets which he ex- 
amined he discovered the remains of six mice, thirty- 
five voles, and two small birds. Other observers have 
found traces of rabbits, leverets, &c., in the nest ; and 
during the breeding-season the bird is said to visit 
the nests of the smaller birds in the neighbourhood, 
and to carry off the half-fledged young for the pur- 
pose of replenishing its larder. 
This owl is seldom seen by day, and prefers to 
conceal itself in the inmost recesses of a thick wood— 
a.fir wood by choice—only issuing therefrom after 
darkness has set in. It is an indolent bird, as far as 
nesting is concerned, for it infinitely prefers to avail 
itself of the work of others to building a nest on its 
own account. Its favourite habitation is the de- 
serted winter abode of a squirrel, and therein it 
lays the four, or occasionally five, white eggs which 
differ so little from those of other members of the 
tribe. 
It is a rather curious fact that this owl, ike many 
others, is strangely dilatory in the matter of laying 
its eggs, which it deposits in detachments at long 
intervals. Its usual plan, in fact, is to lay two eggs, 
wait until they are nearly ready to hatch out, and 
then lay two more, so that the latter pair are hatched 
