OWLS. 



149 



eagerness to partake of the hunter's fare, and carry off the 

 spoil in his presence, is a proof that they must often be 

 severely pressed by hunger. Sportsmen in the north* assure 

 us that they keep watch on some high tree or lofty rock, and 

 the moment the gun is fired and the game killed, they descend, 

 and skimming rapidly down, secure the prey before the shooter 

 is able to get near it. 



Ptarmigans are a favourite food of these birds, and are well 

 aware of their danger. Their mode of escape is, on perceiving 

 the Owl about to pounce upon them, to dive instantly into 

 the loose snow, and make their way beneath it to a considerable 

 distance.f The Ptarmigan also depends for its safety in no 

 small degree to the colouring of its plumage, which in winter 

 is almost entirely white, and harmonises most closely with 

 the colours of the snowy waste on which it nestles. 



Our well-known White or Barn Owl is a very different bird 

 in its habits : so far from wandering far from the abodes of 

 man, it is always near or . 



about our dwellings; the' /fl ^ Wr-'/#$k- 



constant frequenter of our 

 barns and outhouses, and 

 one of the farmer's best 

 friends; for to it we are 

 indebted for the destruc- 

 tion of the shrew-mice, a 

 species which, but for the 

 good service of our Barn- 

 Owls, might prove a great 

 annoyance to our gardens 

 and fields, since, owing to 

 a peculiar flavour or smell, 

 neither cat nor dog will eat 

 them. On the approach of 

 twilight, they sally forth from their roosting-places, and hunt 

 the meadows and hedge-banks with the regularity of a pointer 



* Heakne's Travels. 



t King's Narrative, vol. i. p. 1 26. 



The White or Bam Owl. 



