TWO BROWN OWLS 73 



the photographer is tempted to ask himself whether, after all, the owl was not 

 just paying a flying visit and may not have gone away again. 



But suddenly, and with the suspicion of a ' flip ' of her wings, she alights 

 on a limb of her own tree, and not 10 feet from the nesting-hole. Hardly daring 

 to move his head, the photographer gazes at her squat little form, with its 

 great yellow eyes ; and sees hanging from her talons the partially plucked 

 body of a starling, or blackbird. 



Evidently she is taking stock of the situation, for she peers around her on 

 all sides, and turns her head, without the least difficulty, so that her beak is 

 exactly over the centre of her back, and at length, having concluded that 

 things are normal, she throws herself forward, with that queer action that is 

 so typical of Little Owls, and, with hardly a pause, disappears head first into 

 the nesting-hole. 



This sudden and unexpected manner of entering the nest seems to be 

 characteristic of the owls which nest in holes, and reminds me of a little 

 incident which occurred years ago whilst we were exploring the ruins of a 

 derelict cottage, in the chimney of which was a Barn Owl's nest. 



We had never seen a Barn Owl at close quarters, and were, of course, very 

 anxious to do so : but since this particular nest was some 6 feet from the top 

 of the chimney, the chances of reaching one of the young ones seemed indeed 

 remote. 



The idea of removing one or two bricks close to the nest by working from 

 one of the upstairs rooms of the cottage then occurred to us, and we accordingly 

 improvised a chisel and hammer, and set to work. After some half an hour 

 we had made a hole through to the inside of the chimney, and could see the 

 young owls, now hissing and swaying about in a threatening way, standing 

 on the edge of the nest facing us. 



I suggested that if another brick were removed we could take out one of 

 the young owls and examine it carefully, and my companion, being of a scien- 

 tific turn of mind, put his face close to the hole, and looked through with the 

 idea of seeing what had best be done. 



At this moment, by some strange chance, one of the parent owls elected 

 to return, and dropped feet first into the chimney with half-opened wings. 

 The consequence was that the air, liberally mixed with soot and dust, rushed 

 out, as from a bellows, into my companion's face and eyes ! 



I have during the past season seen a Tawny Owl enter her nest in exactly 

 the same way, and have, in fact, endeavoured unsuccessfully to secure photo- 

 graphic records of her doing so. 



Within a very short distance of where I am writing these lines stands the 

 tree or rather oak stump in which the Tawny Owl laid her eggs and reared 

 her young. 



Before the eggs had hatched there was always something in the way of 



K 



