OWLS. 165 



little guessed at we suspect by many, namely, fish. 

 The great Snowy Owl above-mentioned is known to be 

 a regular fishing-bird. Motionless as the rock on 

 which he sits, he waits patiently till a fish passes, when 

 with the rapidity of a shot, he seizes it with his claws ; 

 but, although asserted by some naturalists, it had never 

 been quite proved that the common Owls were also fish 

 catchers; but the fact has been now confirmed by the 

 testimony of more than one credible witness. Some 

 years ago several young Owls had been taken from a 

 nest, and placed in a yew-tree near a gentleman's house. 

 In this situation it was observed that the parent birds 

 repeatedly brought them live fish, such as bull-heads 

 and loaches, which had evidently been taken from a 

 neighbouring brook, in which these species abounded. 

 At subsequent times, bones of the same fish were fre- 

 quently found lying under the trees on which the young 

 Owls were observed to perch after they had left the 

 nest, and where the old ones were accustomed to feed 

 them. How they caught them was not then known; 

 and the report of some labourers, employed to watch a 

 fish-pond in the flower-garden, was not believed. This 

 pond contained several gold and silver fish, which were 

 observed to diminish in number, and it was suspected 

 that the pond had been poached, and other persons 

 were therefore appointed to watch; when lo! the 

 poachers proved to be Owls, which alighted on the edge 

 of the water, and there waited the approach of the fish : 

 as soon as these came within reach, they were captured 

 and devoured. This testimony has since been corrobo- 

 rated by another witness, who at twilight in July, hap- 

 pened to be standing on the middle of a bridge, watching 

 an Owl carrying mice to its nest, when suddenly he ob- 

 served it to drop perpendicularly into the water. At 

 first, he thought, it had met with an accident, or had 

 been seized with some sort of fit, but before he could 

 reach the end of the bridge in search of a boat, he saw 

 it rise out of the water with a fish in its claws, and con- 



