APPENDIX. 633 



so bravely it dies, without a thought of glory or 

 without a chance of fame, for of its kind there are 

 no cowards. One day I heard a low noise in the 

 woods which surprised me ; I thought it must be the 

 whine of a dog that was very eager for some animal 

 it could not get at ; I even guessed it might be a 

 wolf. After a careful stalk I came upon a family of 

 Hawk Owls, one of which dropped a mouse as I 

 fired. It was in the day-time ; they were very little 

 alarmed and I could have shot them all. I am told 

 that they breed in * tyllyns.' ' Tyllyns ' are the nest- 

 boxes set up by the Lapps and other inhabitants of 

 the far north for the accommodation of the Golden- 

 eyed Duck, or rather for their own, and it is a case 

 of Sic vos non vobis.' "* 



The nest is said to be made of sticks, grass and 

 feathers. 



The following description is taken from Yarrell : 

 " The beak is white ; the irides straw-yellow ; facial 

 disk dull white, bounded on the sides by a semi- 

 lunar dark purplish brown patch extending from the 

 ears downwards; the head, back of the neck and 

 upper part of the shoulders, mottled with dusky 

 black and dull white ; back and wings dark umber- 

 brown ; lower part of the back barred with dull 

 white ; tertials elongated, loose and downy in tex- 

 ture, covering great part of the wing and barred 



* As to the nests set up for the Goldeneye, see p. 512. 



