BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 217 



and a still greater over the succeeding ones. 

 The eldest chick will hatch a week or ten days 

 before the youngest, with the result that the 

 owlets differ enormously in size and develop- 

 ment. When the last hatched is a male, and 

 therefore very small (in birds of prey the 

 male is the inferior sex), he has very poor 

 prospect indeed. He is trampled underfoot, his 

 larger and stronger sisters seize most of the 

 food, and his fate is generally an early and 

 mysterious disappearance. While quite young 

 the owlets are clad in pure white down, but as 

 they get bigger this gives place, in the case of 

 the Brown Owl, to a speckly grey covering, 

 through which the feathers presently make their 

 way. The Tawny Owl, especially the hen, is 

 often most courageous in defence of her young, 

 and I have been attacked by her when too near 

 the nest. I was once stooping over a hole in 

 an apple tree, at the bottom of which were four 

 nearly full-fledged young owls, when something 

 gave me a startling blow in the middle of the 

 back. It was merely the old bird resenting my 

 inquisitiveness ! 



About the end of May the youngsters get out 

 into the trees, when in the evenings one may 

 hear their shrill and piteous squeaks, to which 

 the parents reply with the " ker-wick " cry, and 

 a hoot now and again. To me it is one of the 

 pleasures of a summer night to hear the young 

 and old owls calling, and to know that the various 

 families have got off safely, for not only is the 



