1 HISTORY OF 



the old nest of some other bird, which it has often 

 been forced to abandon. It lays four or five eggs ; 

 and the young are all white at first, but change 

 colour in about a fortnight. The other owls in 

 general build near the place where they chiefly 

 prey : that which feeds upon birds, in some neigh- 

 bouring grove; that which preys chiefly upon 

 mice, near some farmer's yard, where the pro- 

 prietor of the place takes care to give it perfect 

 security. In fact, whatever mischief one species 

 of owl may do in the woods, the barn owl makes 

 a sufficient recompense for, by being equally 

 active in destroying mice nearer home ; so that a 

 single owl is said to be more serviceable than half 

 a dozen cats in ridding the barn of its domestic 

 vermin. " In the year 1580," says an old writer, 

 " at Hallontide, an army of mice so overrun the 

 marshes near Southminster, that they eat up the 

 grass to the very roots. But at length a great 

 number of strange painted owls came and devour- 

 ed all the mice. The like happened again in 

 Essex about sixty years after." 



To conclude our account of these birds, they 

 are all very shy of man, and extremely indocile 

 and difficult to be tamed. The white owl in par- 

 ticular, as M. Buifon asserts, cannot be made to 

 live in captivity ; I suppose he means if it be 

 taken when old. " They live," says he, " ten 

 or twelve days in the aviary where they are shut 

 up ; but they refuse all kind of nourishment, and 

 at last die of hunger. By day they remain with- 

 out moving from the floor of the aviary ; in the 

 evening, they mount on the highest perch, where 



