RAPT ORES. 17 



church eaves, and here and there in hollow trees. 

 The nest is generally placed so securely that the 

 eggs are with difficulty obtained. 



I have only once been able to reach the nest of a 

 Barn Owl in Kingsbury Cliurch, and then found 

 but a single egg. I have several times, however, 

 obtained eggs of this bird from hollow trees in 

 Canon's Park, Edge ware, and I have reason to be- 

 lieve that the Barn Owl breeds regularly in Northolt 

 Church and in the tower of the old church at 

 Stanmore. 



Upon examining a great number of pellets, 

 picked up under the eaves of our village church, I 

 was rather surprised to find that they contained a 

 greater proportion of the skulls and bones of birds 

 than of mice or voles. In some years, as for 

 example the autumn of 1862, the short- tailed vole 

 (Arvicola agrestis) was particularly numerous, a 

 favourite cat often bringing in three or four a 

 day for a period of about three months. I had, 

 therefore, supposed that these voles, being so much 

 easier to capture than small birds, would form the 

 chief food of the Barn Owls; but it proved other- 

 wise : the skulls I obtained were almost invariably 

 those of Finches.* 



* I am told by two excellent naturalists that this is 

 contrary to their experience. 



c 3 



