44 BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR EGGS AND NESTS. 
at description. The entertainment, for such it was most truly, 
- usually began some little time before sunset, about which time 
the old birds might be seen commencing their labours of 
purveying food for Masters and Misses Howlet. At intervals of 
from seven to ten minutes one or other of them came to the nest 
with a prey, and I could always tell by the sounds and gest- 
ures of the young Owls when the old one was approaching. How 
they knew I could not tell; it was not by sight, and I could 
hear no sound myself; but know they did most certainly. Mice, 
slugs, sometimes a large insect apparently, or a small bird, very _ 
rarely a Mole, or Rat of no large dimensions, were brought in 
continuous succession, and in the claw, not with the bill. When 
the animal was of small dimensions, the old Owl flitted off again 
with scarcely any pause at the nest. If a large one, it seemed 
by the time which elapsed, and the sounds which became 
audible—most vehement snorings and hissings—that partition 
had to be made, and that the said partition was a matter of 
the greatest interest to the parties concerned. I cannot affirm 
positively that the cld Owls prosecuted their most successful 
hunting all through the night; but J believe they did, and I 
have seen them still at work in the morning long after sun-rise, 
once as late as between eight and nine in the morning in the 
height of summer. As the inmates of a dove-cot, they are on 
very excellent terms with the proper dwellers therein, although 
from the known habits of other Owls the human owners of the 
dove-cot are apt to assume, most groundlessiy and unjustly, that 
they are sure to destroy the young Pigeons. I don’t believe, 
however, that if all the rejected pellets of bones, fur, feathers, 
&c., from all the Barn Owls in the kingdom could be examined, 
that any trace of pigeon, old or young, would he discovered ; and 
that farmer is a foolish farmer who either destroys a Barn 
