410 THE OWLS 



we remember that the fishing owls of Africa and East Asia feed mainly 

 on fish, and the better to hold such slippery prey, the soles of the feet, 

 as in the osprey and fish-eating eagles, are provided with rough- 

 pointed scales. Birds are occasionally eaten, but probably they fall 

 victims only when roosting in exposed positions, or when suddenly 

 startled they seek safety in flight. 



Though agreeing so closely with the longeared-owl in its mode of 

 life, it differs in one striking particular the rounded shape of the 

 extended wings, due to reduction in the length of the outer primaries. 

 This peculiarity is theoretically what we should expect of a bird which 

 haunts the woods, but the hunting grounds of this bird are generally 

 supposed to be outside the woods. Further investigation may show 

 that at least a part of its food is obtained within the wood itself, 

 thereby avoiding, or rather reducing, competition with its neighbours. 

 This being so, the rounded wing becomes explicable as one more 

 suited to flight amid branches and foliage. The shape of the wing 

 may also be related to the fact that it breeds in hollow trees, though 

 occasionally, like its neighbour the longeared-owl, it will utilise the 

 deserted nest of a wood-pigeon, or a squirrel's drey. 



Of its courting habits practically nothing seems to be known. But 

 C. H. Bryant has recorded the fact that, like the longeared-owl, it 

 claps the wings over the back, producing the same curious sound like 

 " bock," and this noise is accompanied by a loud prolonged laughing 

 cry like that of a peregrine when its nest is threatened. The tawny- 

 owl is, however, the noisiest of all our owls, and is the bird which is 

 popularly supposed to cry " tu-whit, tu-whoo" As a matter of fact, the 

 consonant is never uttered, and the cry is more nearly rendered as a 

 quavering "o-oooo." After a pause of three or four seconds this is 

 followed by a long, quavering " oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo ! " then about 

 forty seconds and the whole theme is repeated. Both sexes hoot, 

 while the young and adults, at dusk, keep up a constant and sharp 

 " e-wick, ee-wick" 



Young tawny owls, in their first plumage, are commonly dimorphic, 



