292 OWLS. 



A tame white owl supersedes the necessity of a cat. 

 My little boy had one a few years ago kept in the kitchen. 

 Its dexterity in catching mice was the wonder of all who 

 saw it. Once, when a mouse had been troublesome in the 

 night, he darkened the window next morning, and brought 

 up his owl. In a very short time there was a crash, a faint 

 squeak, and the mouse was never heard again. It used 

 sometimes to startle strangers, by coming down upon their 

 shoulders with the noiseless spirit-like flight which enabled 

 it to surprise the mice ; when they looked round they 

 encountered a sage face peering inquisitively into theirs. 

 The top of the wings of white owls are beautifully pen- 

 cilled, and make the best artificial white moths. 



The habits of the long-eared owl are pretty much like 

 those of the white, only it is oftener met with in wild 

 unfrequented places, and is also more apt to perch and 

 rest for awhile, when seeking prey. I have shot them in 

 mistake for woodcocks, flying between me and the sky 

 after nightfall. They skim copses and hedgerows exactly 

 like the white owl, but do not come out so early. I have 

 sometimes put them up in open daylight, out of the 

 heather, where there were neither trees nor rocks. But 

 they are more often flushed from some thick fir-tree, which 

 seems a favourite retreat, especially if surrounded by heath 

 or brushwood. A very fine specimen of this bird was 

 brought me one summer. It had been entangled in a net 

 placed over some seeds, to protect them from the small 

 birds. The mice were also feeding on these seeds, and 

 they of course attracted the owl. It was a beautiful little 



