260 NATURAL HISTORY 



not, I think, be passed over in silence. — As 

 they take their prey with their claws, so 

 they carry it in their claws to their nest : 

 but, as the feet are necessary in their ascent 

 under the tiles, they constantly perch first 

 on the roof of the chancel, and shift the 

 mouse from their claws to their bill, that 

 the feet may be at liberty to take hold of 

 the plate on the wall as they are rising 

 under the eaves. 



White owls seem not (but in this I am 

 not positive) to hoot at all ; all that cla- 

 morous hooting appears to me to come 

 from the wood kinds. The white owl does 

 indeed snore and hiss in a tremendous man- 

 ner ; and these menaces well answer the 

 intention of intimidating : for I have known 

 a whole village up in arms on such an oc- 

 casion, imagining the church-yard to be 

 full of goblins and spectres. White owls 

 also often scream horribly as they fly along; 

 from this screaming probably arose the 

 common people's imaginary species of 

 scrccch-owl, which they superstitiously think 

 attends the windows of dying persons. The 



