BIRDS. 145 



surprising. I have seen a sparrow-hawk rush head- 

 long into the midst of a dense thicket, and suddenly 

 emerge on the other side, carrying off a thrush in its 

 talons." As an evidence of its audacity, Macgillivray 

 says that while some sparrows were quietly enjoying 

 the pickings of some horse-dung on one of the streets 

 in Edinburgh, on which many persons, including him- 

 self, were passing, a sparrow-hawk glancing among 

 them carried one off in a moment. 



The predacious birds which hunt during the night 

 are also represented by ordinary woodland species 

 the Long-horned Owl and the Tawny Owl. The silent 

 flight of these birds is very peculiar, and is described 

 by Shakespeare as the " night owl's lazy flight" The 

 Long-eared Owl 1 is common in fir woods in the North. 

 If one of these birds appears in the face of day, the 

 small birds surround him. " They buffet him, peck 

 at and menace him on every side ; while the owl 

 turns his eyes from party to party, evading their blows 

 as well as he can. The uproar is now great ; each 

 bird, in its mother tongue, venting execration on the 

 poor owl On such occasions one may get within a 

 few feet of it. At length he takes wing, generally 

 flies a short distance, often pursued by a chaffinch or 

 two." In Norfolk this "mobbing of the owl" by 

 small birds is a circumstance well known to the 

 country-folk. 



The Tawny Owl 2 hides during the day in dense 

 woods, coming out at dusk to feed on rats, mice, 

 birds, and insects. This bird, as well as some other 



1 Otiis vulgaris. * Syrnium ahico. 



