White Owts 



LETTER XV. 



To the same. 



SELBORN ,//? 8///, 1773. 



EAR SIR, Some young men went down 

 lately to a pond on the verge of Wolmer 

 Forest to hunt flappers, or young wild-ducks, 

 many of which they caught, and, among the 

 rest, some very minute yet well-fledged wild- 

 fowls alive, which upon examination I found 

 to be teals. I did not know till then that 

 teals ever bred in the south of England, and was much pleased 

 with the discovery : this I look upon as a great stroke in 

 natural history. 



We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair of white 

 owls that constantly breed under the eaves of this church. 

 As I have paid good attention to the manner of life of these 

 birds during their season of breeding, which lasts the summer 

 through, the following remarks may not perhaps be unaccept- 

 able ; About an hour before sunset (for then the mice begin 



