THE SCREECH OWL. 89 



Antipathies. 



several generations, found at the bottom many 

 bushels of this refuse. It sometimes happens 

 that when these birds have satisfied their ap- 

 petite, they will like dogs, conceal the remain- 

 der of their prey; but it is worthy of remark, 

 that they have an insurmountable antipathy to 

 shrew-mice, which, though they frequently kill, 

 they always leave untouched. A gentleman in 

 Cornwall, also discovered by accident another of 

 the antipathies of white owls. A pig having 

 been recently killed, he offered a tame owl a bit 

 of the liver: when nothing could exceed the con- 

 temptuous air with which the bird spurned it 

 from him. 



The female makes no nest; but deposits her 

 eggs, generally five or six in number, in the holes 

 of the walls, or under the eaves of old buildings. 

 While the young are in the nest, the cock and 

 hen alternately sally out in quest of food. They 

 ure seldom absent more than five minutes, when 

 they return with the prey in their claws; but as 

 it is necessary to shift it from thence into their 

 bill, for the purpose of feeding their young, they 

 always alight to do that before they enter the 

 nest. As the young continue for a considerable 

 time in the nest, and are fed even long after they 

 are able to fly, the old birds have to supply them 

 with many hundreds of mice: on this account 

 they may be considered as useful animals in the 

 destruction of those vermin. 



TOL. in. NO. xvii. M 



