36 OWLS 



hypothesis, in the hope that some of those who 

 read the story, and are interested in it, may be 

 able, from their own experience, to throw some 

 light upon it, whether by way of confirmation 

 or of refutation. 



The other owls of which I write, the long-eared, 

 the short-eared, and the brown, may be dismissed 

 more briefly ; for much that I have said of the 

 white owl may, with some modifications, be said of 

 them. The long-eared or horned owl is, probably, 

 the rarest of the three, and is seldom to be seen, and 

 still more seldom to be heard, except by those who 

 look or listen carefully for it. It is, in the strictest 

 sense of the word, a " woodlander." It inhabits 

 deep, dark fir woods, where the sound of the wood- 

 man's axe is rarely heard, and where, if unmolested, 

 the same pair, or their descendants, will go on living 

 from generation to generation. It is within my own 

 knowledge that they have done so in one such lonely 

 wood, on the edge of Knighton Heath, for nearly 

 half a century. By day, the long-eared owl remains 

 perched on a branch close to the bole of a Scotch 

 fir or spruce, with its body tucked up so tightly 

 against it that it looks exactly like a knot or excres- 

 cence on its surface. It is, therefore, rarely seen till 

 it is dislodged from its favourite position by a sharp 



