244 STRIX FLAMMEA 



and hope came into my heart : I would be 

 as indifferent to my surroundings as my 

 barn owl was to them ! 



There are owls in the city at night, but 

 never before had I known Strix Flam- 

 mea visiting. The quavering and mournful 

 plaint of the wood or brown owl has often 

 been heard in Hyde Park and St. James's 

 Park during the darkness. Once, from the 

 top of a motor-bus, I saw one roosting in a 

 chimney cowl near Marble Arch. He 

 looked forlorn in such a neighbourhood. 

 Such a strange object naturally caused many 

 cockney sparrows to assemble for com- 

 munal vituperation. 



Unlike other birds, owls cannot exist 

 where there is noise. Most of their hunting 

 is done by sound, detected by the ultra- 

 sensitive and enormous cavities in the sides 

 of their head, much larger than their eyes. 



Maybe you will see Strix Flammea as he 

 floats, a great moth of a bird, round the 

 ancient wharves and docks of London Bridge. 



