UNDERGRADUATE LETTERS TO A. NEWTON 57 



confinement ? I have at Oxford 4 Long-eared 

 Owls — 2 Tawny, 1 Barn, and 1 Scops-eared — 

 and every one of the Long-eared has been attacked 

 by a disease of some sort in the eye. It begins 

 with a sort of film, which grows thicker and 

 thicker, till the sight is lost. They have all 

 four had it, but have now quite recovered. 

 The other owls have escaped it entirely. 



' Begging many pardons for thus troubling 

 you, I beg to remain, your obedient servant. 



< T. L. Powys.' 



To the same. 



' Lilford : December 16, 1852. 



' . . . Perhaps it may be interesting to you 

 to know that for the last two or three mornings 

 the keeper and myself have been chasing a 

 Golden-eye Duck on our river here, the Nene, 

 without success, and that about two mornings 

 ago we were joined by a wild Peregrine Falcon, 

 but her efforts were also unsuccessful. Neither 

 of these birds is common here, though one or 

 more of each are generally seen and killed every 

 winter on the Nene. 



' I offered all my owls water often, and none 



