BIRD-LIFE OF THE WOODS AND GROVES. 157 



Birds amongst the iris and osiers. Now and 

 then a weasel or a rabbit scamper across the 

 open glades, or the crow of a startled Pheasant 

 breaks the silence. Suddenly the cry of the 

 Wood Owl sounds faintly from the woods a 

 deep, full-toned woo-whoo-hoo, several times 

 repeated, and then a pause. Once more the 

 startling notes ring out in succession, and then 

 another pause. Perchance next time they break 

 the stillness they are heard just overhead with 

 uncanny and startling suddenness. The soft, 

 almost imperceptible flap of broad brown wings 

 sounds faintly from the sky, and for a fleet- 

 ing moment the weird hooter is visible in the 

 shimmering, uncertain moonlight, vanishing again 

 in the shadows as ghostlike as he came. 

 Sometimes, while walking along the highway 

 between Torquay and Paignton, on the warm 

 summer nights, we are momentarily startled by 

 this Owl calling overhead, when on his nightly 

 wanderings from the Cockington woods. Another 

 favourite resort of his is in the grounds of Chapel 

 Hill, in Torquay, or the celebrated avenues of 

 lime-trees that once formed a part of the grounds 

 of old Torre Abbey. The Barn Owl, however, is 



