156 WHITE OWL. 
it is likewise the most common of the Owls; in Scotland it 
is less numerous, particularly towards the north-west; and in 
the Orkney Islands still more unfrequent. 
This bird is a perennial resident with us, and if unmolested 
frequents the same haunts for a succession of years. It displays 
considerable affection for its young. Mr. Thomas Prater, of 
Bicester, relates in the ‘Zoologist,’ that an old ivy-clad tree 
having been blown down at Chesterton, Oxfordshire, a family 
of White Owls was dislodged by its fall: the parent bird placed 
the young ones under the tree, and was not deterred from her 
maternal duties by the frequent visits of the keeper on his 
rounds; but one morning as he was turning away from looking 
at ean flew at him with great fury, and “buffeted him about 
the head. 
As a proof, among the many others which have been, and 
might be given, of the influence of protection and kinduese 
upon wild “birds; I may here mention, my informant being 
Mr. Charles Muskett, of Norwich, that a pair of this species, 
which lived in a barn near his father’s residence, were so fearless 
that they would remain there while the men were thrashing, 
and if a mouse was dislodged by a sheaf being removed, would 
pounce down upon it before them, without minding their presence. 
They not very unfrequently become of their own accord halt: 
domesticated, from frequenting the vicinage of man without 
molestation, where their good services are appreciated, and their 
presence accordingly encouraged. ‘These birds indeed are very 
tameable, and will afterwards live in harmony with other birds 
of various species. Montagu kept one together with a Sparrow- 
Hawk and a Ringdove; at the end of six. months he gave 
them all their liberty—the Owl alone returned—the others 
preferred their native freedom to the acquired habits of 
domestication. Another which escaped from the place of its 
captivity, returned in a few days voluntarily to it. The 
movements of this bird, when they can be closely observed, 
are very amusing; standing on one leg, it draws the other up 
into its thick plumage; and if approached, moves its head awry 
after the manner of a Chinese mandarin; or falls flat on iis 
side, like Punch in the puppet-show. To be properly tamed 
they must be taken young; education, as is the case with the 
‘bipes implume,’ 1s much less difficult then than afterwards. 
They will come to a whistle, or answer to their name, and 
settle on the shoulder of whomsoever they may be acquainted 
with. They take notice of music, and appear to be fond of it. 
