44 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



invariably uttered by the white owl. I have watched 

 both in various situations, and have often been startled 

 in the woods by the unexpected shriek of the brown 

 owl, while, by blowing into my closed hands, I have 

 imitated a hoot with such exactness as to cause the 

 white owl to approach me very closely. A pair of the 

 latter frequented a small field opposite to my house in 

 the village, and on moonlight nights I have repeatedly 

 and distinctly watched them while uttering their hoot 

 even within a few yards of the house. The result of my 

 own careful and repeated observations may be thus 

 summed up that the white owl hoots chiefly, but 

 sometimes, though very seldom, screams ; while the 

 tawny owl screeches, and rarely, if ever, hoots. 



The Tawny Owl (Ulula stridula), although not so 

 common with us as the white, is still a plentiful species, 

 our extensive woods favouring its arboreal habits. Its 

 favourite hiding-places in the daytime are the thickly- 

 clothed branches of the spruce and Scotch fir, especially 

 the former. It is not nearly so wary a bird as the barn 

 owl, and if disturbed from its roost before the evening it 

 is even more confused and blinded by the light ; but in 

 the dusky twilight it is all activity, hunting on the out- 

 skirts of the woods and plantations with noiseless flight, 

 its tawny colour rendering it invisible in the dark 

 shadows of the trees, and I have often been aware of 

 its presence only by its unearthly cry as it glided past 

 me. 



The venerable oaks, whose lichened trunks and limbs 

 are rifted and decayed into innumerable cavities, are the 

 places it generally selects in which to breed. In these 

 its young are secure from all enemies except the polecat, 

 and even he would hesitate ere he faced the sharp beak 



