CHAP. TIL] DOMESTICATED OWL. 85 



are very common in the shady fir-woods. I often see this bird 

 sitting on a branch close to the stem of the tree, and depending 

 on the exact similitude of his colour to that of the bark, he sits 

 motionless with his bright golden eye watching earnestly every 

 movement I make. If he fancies himself observed, and likely 

 to be molested, down he dashes, flies a hundred yards or so, and 

 then suddenly pitches again. His long ears and bright eyes 

 give him a most unbirdlike appearance as he sits watching one. 

 As soon as evening comes on, the owl issues forth in full life and 

 activity, and in the woods here may be seen and heard in all 

 directions, sitting on the topmost branch of some leafless tree, 

 generally a larch or ash (these two being his favourites), where 

 he hoots incessantly for an hour together, swelling his throat 

 out, and making the eccentric motions of a pouter pigeon. They 

 breed in rocks, ivy, or in the deserted nest of a magpie. 



I do not know why, but I never could succeed in rearing one 

 of these birds they have invariably died, without any apparent 

 cause, before their first year was over. Not so with the tawny 

 owl. One of these birds has been in my kitchen-garden for 

 three years. Though his wing is sometimes cut, he can fly suffi- 

 ciently to get over the wall, but seldom ventures beyond the 

 adjoining flower-garden or orchard. From habit or tameness 

 this bird seems to pay little regard to sunshine or shade, sitting 

 during the daytime as indifferently in the mo.-t open and exposed 

 places as in the more shaded corners: he is quite tame too. and 

 answers to the call of the children. lie hoots as vigorously at 

 midday as at night, and will take a bird from my hand when 

 offered to him. Although his flight has been impeded by his 

 wing being cut, he seems to have entirely cleared the garden of 

 mice, with which it was much overrun. Though a light bird, 

 and not apparently very strongly built, his sharp claws and bill 

 enable him to tear to pieces any crow or sea-gull that is offered 

 to him. When he has had his meal oft' some large bird of this 

 kind, and has satisfied his appetite, he carries away and carefully 

 hides the remainder, returning to it when a^ain hungry. I do 

 not know whether the owl, when at. liberty in his native woods, 

 has the same fox-like propensity to hide what he cannot eat. I 

 have frequently heard this kind of owl hoot and utter another 



