Ill bite 



Q . We have had, ever since I can remember, a pair 



of white owls that constantly breed under the eaves 

 of this church. Their season of breeding' lasts the 

 summer through. 



About an hour before sunset (for then the mice begin to run) they 

 sally forth in quest of prey, and hunt all round the hedges of 

 meadows and small inclosures for them, which seem to be their only 

 food. We can stand on an eminence, and see them beat the fields 

 over like a dog, and often drop down in the grass or corn. 



I have "minuted" [or timed] these birds with my watch for an 

 hour together, and have found that they return to their nest, the one 

 or the other of them, about once in five minutes. 



A piece of address which they show when they return loaded 

 should not, I think, be passed over in silence. As they take their 

 prey with their claws, so they carry it in their claws to their nest ; 

 but, as the feet are necessary in their ascent under the tiles, they 

 constantly perch first on the roof of the chancel, and shift the mouse 

 from their daws to their bill, that the feet may be at liberty to take 

 hold of the plate on the wall, as they are rising under the eaves. 



White owls seem not (but in this I am not positive) to hoot at all ; 

 all that clamorous hooting appears to me to come from the wood 

 kinds. The white owl does indeed snore and hiss in a tremendous 

 manner. I have known a whole village up in arms, imagining the 

 churchyard to be full of goblins and spectres. White owls also 

 often scream horribly as they fly along. 



The plumage of the wings of every species of owl that I have yet 

 examined is remarkably soft and pliant. Perhaps it may be 

 necessary that the wings of these birds should not make much 

 resistance or rushing, that they may be able to steal through the 

 air unheard upon a nimble and watchful quarry. G. W. 



116 



