Bij the Rev. A. C. Smith. 31 



trouble of building for itself ; the young, if disturbed, are said to 

 throw themselves on their backs, to hiss violently, to snap quickly 

 with their hooked beaks, strike furiously with their sharp claws, 

 and puff out their down like a turkey cock. Mice and moles con- 

 stitute their favourite food, but in addition to this, Montagu says, 

 that they will take small birds off their roost. The long eared owl 

 is indigenous to "Wilts, and though but sparingly distributed 

 throughout the county, breeds here annually. Mr. Marsh possesses 

 one killed at Gritnam wood, near him, in 1840, and has seen it in 

 the neighbourhood of Salisbury. Mr. Hayward and Mr. Stratton 

 have seen it at Lavington, and Mr. Elgar Sloper, of Devizes, kept 

 one alive, which was taken from the nest at Aldboume in 1853, 

 where there had also been a nest of these birds the previous year. 

 I have other instances of the occurrence of this owl at Erchfont, 

 and other places. 



Short cared Owl (Otus brachyotos). Far more numerous than the 

 last, and well known to most sportsmen is this species, which 

 arrives here in October, and leaves us again in spring : unlike its 

 congener, the ' long eared ', this owl never enters woods and plan- 

 tations, or perches on a tree, but prefers the open common, the 

 turnip field and the moor, amidst the long coarse grass of which it 

 makes it nest. It will hunt readily by day, and this habit together 

 with the smallness of its head, and its general appearance, have 

 procured it the provincial name of the ' Hawk ' Owl : it is also 

 called the 'Woodcock' Owl, from its arrival and departure occur- 

 ring simultaneously with that bird. It preys chiefly on mice, and 

 has been known to congregate in considerable numbers, when an 

 imusual abundance of that destructive little quadruped has threat- 

 ened to ravage a district. It is a bold pugnacious bird, and when 

 wounded will spring at its assaillant with great fierceness, leaving 

 unmistakeable evidence of the sharpness of its bill and claws. Its 

 horns consist of but four feathers in each, so very little longer 

 than the rest of the plumage on the head, that after death tho)'^ are 

 difficult to discover : I believe that it is when in repose, and while 

 undisturbed that this bird erects its tufts, and when startled or in 

 fear depresses them, but there are conflicting opinions on Mio 



