THE OWLS. 205 



that has occurred twice once in Northumberland, once in 

 Ireland. 



Black-billed Cuckoo. An American straggler, reported 

 to have occurred once. 



Yellow -billed Cuckoo. An American bird that has 

 been shot on five occasions on the western shores of these 

 islands. 



CHAPTER III. THE OWLS. 



[The owls commonly admitted to the British list include 

 three residents, two regular and six irregular visitors. 

 They were formerly reckoned as a group among the birds 

 of prey, but their distinctiveness is now generally recog- 

 nised. Another ornithologist placed them next to the 

 parrots. All are birds of the gloaming, remaining through- 

 out the day in a half-sleepy condition, and being ill at ease 

 in the glare of the sun. The female is always the larger 

 of the two, though the difference is not great in the 

 majority of cases. Their food consists entirely of small 

 mammals, birds, and reptiles, and they ought therefore 

 to be encouraged instead of, as is too commonly the case, 

 persecuted by the keeper and farmer. Three residents ; 

 two regular, four irregular visitors, and one doubtful.] 



The Barn-Owl, smallest of our resident owls, is com- 

 mon throughout these islands, except in the Orkneys and 

 Barn- Shetlands, where it is rare. Its disappearance 

 Owl. f rom neighbourhoods where it once was plenti- 

 ful is doubtless due to the short-sighted policy of persecu- 

 tion meted out to the unoffending bird by gamekeepers. 

 As rats, shrews, and voles are among its favourite articles 

 of food, a few of these voracious birds on an estate should 

 be worth a ton of poison. Besides these, it devours bats 



