IN THE WEALD 91 
scuttle over the stones, and so can the owl. Also 
you can hear them feeding. They are not large, only 
the usual brook size, that of a small herring. Either 
in coming or going a pair of owls will have two or 
three in the course of the night that is, if all things 
are favourable, for trout are capricious. They do not 
feed in one place, or confine themselves to one course 
of feeding. There is plenty and to spare, for the 
nature of the waters they frequent prevents their 
being captured. Great rifts run through woods, 
covered in by thorns and briers. Try to wade down 
such waters, and find out what the stoat-flies and the 
midges will do for you. It is a very old proverb, 
that those who use strong language catch no fish. If 
you attempt to angle here, you will prove the truth 
of that old proverb to a dead certainty. Sometimes, 
when the farm lads know that a brown owl has 
young, they will go and turn the cupboard out, as 
they say, and a very interesting sight it is. If fish 
are to be got, portions of it, or the whole fish, will 
generally be found there, and the barn-owl keeps a 
good larder. You are not able to find it very often, 
but when you do, you will find something in it. 
I have seen my own owls pack their surplus food 
away in the most methodical manner. After I had fed 
them up until they refused to take any more, then 
