294 OWLS. 



its attraction to the island, for I remember that, after it 

 had been planted to some extent, so much injury was done 

 by the mice that a boat-load of cats were imported on pur- 

 pose to destroy them ! There are a few fine old Scotch 

 firs on the island, and out of one of these flew the owl, 

 always winging his way straight to another, quite heed- 

 less of the glaring sun. 



I never heard of the short-eared owl's nest being found 

 in the West Highlands, so conclude it must be a bird of 

 passage there. 



The long-eared owl sometimes rears its young in the 

 Castle Kock of Edinburgh ; one was shot last autumn 

 close to Portobello. The barn owl also hatches every year 

 in Craigmillar Castle, about a mile from the city. The 

 male takes up his quarters during the day in a niche of the 

 old dining-hall. When the curious stranger enters, he turns 

 a sleepy face, and then quietly takes himself off by the 

 hole where a window was. My tame ones always show the 

 same dislike of intrusion during their nap. If I move my 

 head from side to side at their wire door, they at once 

 imitate me most absurdly, and continue to make a pen- 

 dulum of their heads so long as I set them the example. 



On taking possession of my present residence, Sonachan 

 House, Loch- Awe-side, I was much annoyed to find that a 

 colony of ivy owls (whose long abode in the roof might 

 surely have entitled them to nine points of the law) had 

 been shot as vermin by a surly gamekeeper, as a blind for 

 laziness. Had they fallen into my hands, they should 

 certainly have been sacred birds. 



