196 WOODLAND CREATURES 



seen one of these birds basking blissfully in the 

 sunshine. Its wings were spread out, its head 

 turned up, and it was conscious only of 

 the blissful warmth. Of course the commonly 

 accepted idea that owls dread and shun the light, 

 that they are blinded by sunshine, is one of 

 those popular superstitions with no foundation 

 in fact. An owl sees perfectly well in the 

 strongest light, and is not handicapped by it. 

 The idea has probably arisen from the habit 

 these birds have of winking and blinking when 

 frightened. For instance, if you chance to 

 surprise an owl at its roosting place, it will, 

 instead of taking flight, draw itself up, gather- 

 ing its fluffy feathers round it until it is very 

 tall and slim, and then glare down on the intruder, 

 at the same time blinking its eyes as if dazzled 

 by the light. This is merely a nervous trick, 

 and when the same bird takes flight you will 

 note that it is well able to see where it is going, 

 and that it threads its way unerringly through 

 the trees, never by any accident colliding with 

 boughs or trunks. 



As a matter of fact it is by no means easy to 

 find a Brown Owl at roost, for, as pointed out 

 before, its plumage harmonizes most admirably 

 with the tree trunk near which it sits, and its 

 trick of drawing itself up when it sees anyone 

 coming makes it very like a piece of broken wood. 

 The Brown Owl invariably roosts close to the 

 main stem of a tree, and usually some height 

 from the ground, resorting to the same perch 





