THE BARN OWL. 307 



thousand years, I made a place with stone and mortar, about four feet square, and fixed a thick oaken 

 stick firmly into it. Huge masses of ivy now quite cover it. In about a month or so after it was 

 finished a pair of Barn Owls came and took up their abode in it. I threatened to strangle the 

 keeper if ever, after this, he molested either the old birds or their young ones ; and I assured the 

 housekeeper that I would take upon myself the whole responsibility of all the sickness, woe, and 

 sorrow that the new tenants might bring to the Hall. She made a low courtesy, as much as to 

 say, ' Sir, I fall into your will and pleasure,' but I saw in her eye that she had made up her mind 

 to have to do with things of fearful and portentous shape, and to hear many a midnight wailing in 

 the neighbouring woods. I do not think that up to the day of this old lady's death, which took 

 place in her eighty-fourth year, she ever looked with pleasure or contentment on the Barn Owl, as 

 it flew round the large sycamore trees which grow near the ruined gateway. 



" "When I found that this first settlement on the gateway had succeeded so well, I set about 

 forming other establishments. This year I have had four broods, and I trust that next season I can 

 calculate on having nine. This will be a pretty increase, and it will help to supply the place of 

 those which in this neighbourhood are .still unfortunately doomed to death by the hand of cruelty or 

 superstition. We can now always have a peep at the Owls in their habitation 

 on the old ruined gateway whenever we choose. Confident of protection, 

 these pretty birds betray no fear when the stranger mounts up to their place 

 of abode. I would here venture a surmise that the Barn Owl sleeps stand- 

 ing. Whenever we go to look at it we invariably see it upon the perch, bolt 

 upright, and often with its eyes closed, apparently fast asleep. Buffon and 

 Bewick err, no doubt unintentionally, when they say that the Barn Owl 

 snores during its repose. What they took for snoring was the cry of the 

 young birds for food. I had fully satisfied myself on this score some years 

 ago. However, in December, 1823, I was much astonished to hear this 

 same snoring kind of noise, which had been so common in the month of 

 July. On ascending the ruin, I found a brood of young Owls in the 

 xpartment. 



" Upon this ruin is placed a perch, about a foot from the hole at which 



, / , -IT i.T, 1 BREAST-BONE OF THE 



the Owls enter. Sometimes, at mid-day, when the weather is gloomy, you BARN OWL- 



may see an Owl upon it, apparently enjoying the refreshing diurnal breeze. 



This year (1831) a pair of Barn Owls hatched their young, on the 7th of September, in a sycamore 

 tree, near the old ruined gateway. 



" Tf this useful bird caught its food by day, instead of hunting for it by night, mankind would 

 have ocular demonstration of its utility in thinning the country of Mice ; and it would be protected 

 and encouraged everywhere. It would be with us what the Ibis was to the Egyptians. When it has 

 young, it will bring a Mouse to the nest about every twelve or fifteen minutes. But in order to have a 

 proper idea of the enormous quantity of Mice which this bird destroys, we must examine the pellets 

 which it ejects from its stomach in the place of its retreat. Eveiy pellet contains from four to seven 

 skeletons of Mice. In sixteen months from the time that the apartment of the Owl on the old gateway 

 was cleaned out, there has been a deposit of above a bushel of pellets. The Barn Owl sometimes 

 carries off Rats. One evening I was sitting under a shed, and killed a very large Rat as it was 

 coming out of a hole about ten yards from where I was watching it. I did not go to take it up, 

 hoping to get another shot. As it lay there, a Barn Owl pounced upon it, and flew away with it. 

 This bird has been known to catch fish. Some yeai's ago, on a fine evening in the month of July, long 

 before it was dark, as I was standing on the middle of the bridge, and minuting the Owl by my watch 

 as she brought Mice into her nest, all on a sudden she dropped perpendicularly into the water. Think- 

 ing she had fallen down in epilepsy, my first thoughts were to go and fetch the boat ; but before I had 

 well got to the end of the bridge, I saw the Owl rise o\it of the water with a fish in her claws, and 

 take it to the nest. When farmers complain that the Barn Owl destroys the eggs of their Pigeons, 

 they lay the saddle on the wrong horse ; they ought to put it on the Rat. Formerly, I could get 

 very few young Pigeons, till the Rats were excluded effectually from the dovecot. Since that took 

 place it has produced a great abundance every year, though the Barn Owls frequent it, and are 



