OWLS. 287 



quite brown, without any tawny tint. These, I rather 

 think, are the young males and females, but not a distinct 

 species. 



If there is no ruin near, these owls will rear their young 

 in a thick ivy-tree, or take possession of a magpie's nest, 

 provided it is in some dark old fir-tree or cedar. They 

 never construct one for themselves, but lay their eggs in a 

 hole of the wall in ruins or outbuildings, only scraping a 

 little sand or lime upon the stones. I have twice known 

 the tawny owl hatch in the nest of a magpie, but never in 

 any other bird's. The reason probably is, that the nests 

 of crows, rooks, hawks, &c., are all roofless. Once or 

 twice in summer, I have heard the tawny owl hoot in the 

 day-time, but they never continue to do so above two or 

 three times. It has then a most unnatural sound, and is, 

 of course, not nearly so audible or imposing as during the 

 stillness of night. I recollect once, when standing under a 

 tree where an owl was hooting, being struck with the dif- 

 ference of the note from its sound at a distance. Far off, 

 one wonders that so small a bird can emit such a volume 

 of sound. The nearer you come, however, the less the 

 sound appears; but what it loses in strength it gains in 

 clearness and melody, which I suppose is the reason we 

 hear it at such a distance. I have noticed this also in the 

 sounds of other night-birds,* especially the nightingale's 



* The landrail, in the summer nights, is an exception to this rule. The 

 nearer you approach, the more harsh and grating is the vibration of its 

 crake. Not so the cuckoo, as any one will find who has the hap to be 

 under the tree where he is calling, in the dusk of a still summer eve. 



