398 JE GAME PRESERVER'S GUIDE. 



when its nocturnal eye spies a luckless mouse it hovers over 

 it in the most silent manner, with its legs hanging down, 

 and rapidly alights on its prey, which it seizes in its claws and 

 bears away. Should this bird come abroad in the daytime, 

 it is beset by thrushes, blackbirds, swallows, and other small 

 birds, which give it no peace till it retires to some spot out 

 of their sight. The white owl comes out earlier than the 

 brown, and may frequently be seen in the twilight hour 

 hunting for mice. In the old male the length is fourteen 

 inches; the beak is almost white; iris bluish black; face 

 white, the edges being tipped with brown, and having a 

 rusty stain under each eye; crown and nape of neck pale 

 buff, spotted with black and white; upper parts of body 

 darker buff, speckled and mottled with grey, black, and 

 white ; tail feathers of a pale buff, with five grey bars ; all 

 the under parts snowy white ; tarsi covered with white, 

 fanlike feathers, which also extend to the upper surface of 

 the toes ; claws brown, the middle one being slightly 

 serrated. The wings are longer than the tail, and the fibres 

 of which their feathers are composed not being all of the 

 same length, the flight is rendered noiseless. The females 

 resemble the males, except on the under surface, which is of 

 a less snowy white, and sometimes even of a pale fawn 

 colour. The nest is built in a barn, old malt-house, church 

 tower, or any old ruin covered with ivy. The female lays 

 from three to seven, or even eight, eggs, of a white colour, 

 one inch six lines long by one inch three lines. It is re- 

 markable for beginning to sit as soon as one egg is laid; so 

 that the young are hatched on consecutive days, and as they 

 grow up are of all sizes. 



THE TAWNY OR IVY OWL (Strix striduld). 



This bird is still more nocturnal in its habits than the 

 barn owl; but nevertheless it is far more destructive to 

 game, feeding, according to Yarrell, "on leverets, young 

 rabbits, moles, rats, mice, birds, frogs, and insects," as well 

 as " occasionally on fish," like its white congener. Its wings 

 are not so long as those of that bird, nor is its flight so rapid 

 and buoyant, though quite as soft, noiseless, and spectre-like. 



