STRIGID^E. ii 



July, long before it was dark, as he was standing 

 on the middle of the bridge at Walton Hall, 

 Yorkshire, and timing the owl by his watch as she 

 brought mice into her nest, all on a sudden she 

 dropped perpendicularly into the water. Thinking 

 she had- fallen down in an epilepsy, his first thought 

 was to go and fetch the boat; but before he had 

 got to the end of the bridge, he saw the owl rise 

 out of the water with a fish in her claws, and take 

 it to the nest. 



