22 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



season by season nests in one favoured spot, 

 which is generally its daily refuge for the re- 

 mainder of the year. No nest is made, and the 

 eggs are generally laid either upon the dusty 

 bottom of the hole or upon the pellets of mice- 

 skins thrown up by the birds. The eggs are 

 three or four in number, about the size of a 

 Pigeon's egg and perfectly white, though rough 

 in texture and without gloss. When disturbed at 

 the nest the old birds hiss and snap their beaks 

 to show their displeasure at the intrusion. Two 

 or more broods are reared in the year, the earliest 

 eggs generally being laid in April and the latest 

 in July and August. The Barn Owl moults very 

 slowly during the months of July, August, and 

 September. It is, perhaps, needless to add that 

 this bird is a resident with us. 



Two species of the Crow tribe call for notice 



as we ramble below the rocks ; but unfortunately 



widely for the naturalist only one of them, the JACKDAW 



distributed. // ~, j i \ 11 i ' t .M 



(Lorvus moneduta), is at all commonly distributed. 

 He is much smaller than the Rook, and always 

 easily distinguished by his slate-gray nape. The 

 Jackdaw also frequents church towers, ivied ruins, 

 hollow trees, the larger homesteads, and even 

 sea-cliffs. I always, however, associate this bird 

 with an inland cliff, perhaps because I saw so 

 much of it in the limestone dales of the Peak. 

 The Jackdaw, like the Rook, is gregarious all the 

 year through, and builds in colonies. Like that 

 bird it also much frequents the fields and pastures 

 for the same kind of food, and its habits generally 

 are very similar. The Jackdaw pairs for life, and 

 the old breeding-places are tenanted yearly. The 

 nest of this bird is always well sheltered in a hole 



