94 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



and nowhere to be found. His companion, it is 

 said, continued to visit the spot alone for several 

 weeks, uttering doleful cries, but could never be 

 persuaded to come nearer to be fed. It proved in 

 the end, that the favourite had been killed ; and 

 its stuifed skin was one day recognised in a wood- 

 man's hut, by the children who had so assiduously 

 nurtured and brought it up. 



Equally well known with the barn owl is the 

 IVY, or TAWNY OWL (also called the wood owl), 

 the familiar prowler of our woods and forests, 

 whence it issues, at nightfall, in search of food, 

 uttering its loud and melancholy hoot, and busily 

 hunting for its prey. It is strictly nocturnal in 

 its habits, seldom leaving its retreat during the 

 day, but remaining ensconced in the hollow of an 

 old tree, or amid the masses of ivy which cluster 

 around the giants of the forest. The young 

 broods are generally hatched in a hole of a tree, 

 and are supplied by the parent birds with abun- 

 dance of food ; collections of rejected bones being 

 not unfrequently found by the woodman, in these 

 owl-nurseries, which have served the same pur- 

 pose for successive years. The general colour of 

 this species is tawny yellow, with dusky bars. 



The owl is several times mentioned in Scrip- 

 ture, the whole tribe being doubtless included in 

 the general term. It is always alluded to as em- 



