BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 199 



mistle-thrush is among the aggressors, the owl 

 will have quite a bad time, and I have even 

 seen one of these big, bold thrushes, make an 

 owl's feathers fly. A Brown Owl is not really 

 a big bird indeed, it is quite a small one when 

 stripped of its fluffy plumage ; it has a big head 

 and big legs, but a very little body. Its big 

 feet balance the weight of its head when flying, 

 which possibly accounts for the fact that it is 

 one of the few birds which moults all its tail- 

 feathers at once, being for a short time without 

 a tail. Most birds moult their tail-feathers in 

 pairs, beginning with those in the centre, and 

 so are never altogether tailless. 



With its beautifully soft plumage the Brown 

 Owl is most catlike, and perfectly silent in its 

 movements, floating by on muffled wing so that 

 it passes like a shadow. However, it does not 

 hunt on the wing, but takes up a position on 

 the branch of a tree, a post, or some convenient 

 railings, whence it can watch for any movement 

 in the surrounding undergrowth. Then woe to 

 any mouse or vole that ventures from its hole! 

 If only a blade of grass stirs, the owl drops 

 quietly upon the spot, and the unsuspecting 

 mouse is squeezed in a death grip. The Brown 

 Owl always seizes its prey in its feet, or, to be 

 quite accurate, more usually in the right foot, 

 then flies up to its perch, and inspects its capture. 

 The victim is taken delicately by the head, the 

 skull is crushed by a nip of the sharp beak; the 

 owl gives a gulp, the great part of the mouse 



