BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 
food, though, seeing that they come to 
at any rate in the south country only in 
winter, and even then irregularly, they can 
do no damage to young game-birds, and are 
probably incapable of capturing old. The 
worst offender among the residents is the 
tawny owl, to which I find the following 
reference in the famous Malmesbury MSS. : 
" Common here ... a great destroyer of 
young game and leverets . . . they sit in 
ivy bushes during the day, and I have 
known one remain, altho' its mate was killed, 
in the same tree, hi such a state of torpor 
did it appear to be. . ." The screech owl is 
a harmless bird and a terror to mice, and 
any doubt as to its claim on the farmer's 
hospitality would at once be removed by 
cursory examination of the undigested pellets 
which, in common with hawks, these birds 
cast up after their meals. 
On the other hand, there is sometimes good 
reason for modifying any plea for kindness 
to owls. Handsome is as handsome does, 
and many of these birds are, during the 
nesting season, not only savage in defence 
of their young, but actually so aggressive 
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