158 



THE LONG-EARED OWL. 



kept master of the situation, and flew northwards to the adjacent woods 

 of Grangeinuir, in which he was lost sight of." 



And on May 23rd, 1887, along with others I saw an owl 

 hovering above Lochty burn, when it also suddenly pounced upon 

 and bore up a large brown rat in its talons, and flew away with 

 it to a wood close by ; which proves that owls prey upon rats as 

 well as mice. 



I had to cut all the food for the two young owls I kept, as 

 they would not tear it in pieces for themselves, and as the bills 

 of all owls are nearly hidden by bristly feathers this seems 

 natural ; but as they grew older they swallowed mice and such 

 birds as sparrows entire, beginning at the head; and after 

 swallowing all but the tail and legs they paused for a short time 

 to take breath, then completed the operation, feathers and all — 

 the refuse bones and feathers or fur being afterwards vomited 

 in pellets, which is characteristic of the family. In fact, it is 

 essential that tame owls get their food with the fur or feathers 

 on, as many die from getting their food too clean. I kept them 

 in a large darkish outhouse ; they never became very tame or 

 sociable, but hissed liked cats and made a snapping noise with 

 their bill, and seized their food with avidity by their talons. 

 They generally both sat upright, staring with their large, 

 lustrous, orange-coloured eyes, which shone like little balls of 

 fire in the semi-darkness. To show that their eyes are lustrous 

 in the dark — An uncle of mine, a coastguardsman, many years 

 ago, when going his usual beat with his gun at night along 

 Kinkell Braes, saw a pair of eyes staring at him on the brae 

 between the " Maiden Stane" and " Kinkell Cave." He felt eerie, 

 and hailed the suspicious-looking object to speak in the king's 

 name, or he would fire. Eeceiving no answer he hailed again 

 and again, while the eyes kept staring at him. Getting irritated 

 and afraid, he levelled his gun and fired ; something moved, then 

 all was dark. Mustering courage, he went to the place and 

 found a fine specimen of the horned-owl, shot dead. It had been 

 sitting on the brae quite close to him ; and this agrees with my 

 own observation of the owls I had when sitting on their perch 

 in the dark. The male is 14 J inches to end of tail (which is 

 short — an inch shorter than the wings when closed), and 36 

 inches in extent of wings. The female, as usual, is larger, from 

 16 to 17 inches to end of tail, and 40 inches in extent of wings. 

 The eggs are about the size of a wood pigeon's, but rounder. 



