ARN OWL 



Stnx fla m me a 



HE Barn Owl is a fairly common resident throughout 

 Great Britain and Ireland, and occurs on many of the 

 adjacent islands. 



The Barn Owl is the commonest Owl in Great 

 Britain, and is the most nocturnal in its habits, being 

 seldom seen abroad in the daytime unless driven from 

 its hiding-place. When disturbed during the day the 

 Barn Owl wings its noiseless way to the nearest dark corner, followed by all 

 the small birds in the neighbourhood, who fly after it and mob it most 

 impertinently, no doubt knowing its powerlessness to catch them in the 

 daylight. It sleeps all day in some hiding-place, generally a hole in some 

 huge old oak or walnut, often in the belfry of some church or a crevice in 

 some ivy-covered ruin ; a favourite place is on the top of the wall just under 

 the roof of a barn. 



The noiseless, measured flight of the Barn Owl has something uncanny 

 about it, as he flaps slowly past, now sailing swiftly over the grass, again 

 wheeling lazily round some clump of trees. How large and mysterious he 

 appears in the twilight, too ! Little wonder that he has a bad name among the 

 ignorant and superstitious country-folk. It is marvellous to see how swiftly 

 he checks himself in his flight to pounce down on some unfortunate mouse 

 which his sharp eye has detected among the grass. He rarely misses his prey, 

 and rises aloft with his victim in his terrible sharp claws, to carry it off to 

 his lair, where he devours it at his leisure. 



The food of the Barn Owl consists of rats, mice, moles, bats, and birds, 



with an occasional beetle. The indigestible remains of its food are ejected in 



the form of pellets, which usually contain the bones and skins of two or 



three animals. Each individual seems to have its favourite food, as the pellets 



VOL. iv. N 49 



