OF SELBORNE. 26l 



plumage of the remiges of the wings of 

 every species of owl that I have yet exa- 

 mined is remarkably soft and pliant. Per- 

 haps it may be necessary that the wings of 

 these birds should not make much resist- 

 ance or rushing, that they may be enabled 

 to steal through the air unheard upon a 

 nimble and watchful quarry. 



While I am talking of owls, it may not 

 be improper to mention what I was told 

 by a gentleman of the county of Wilts. As 

 they were grubbing a vast hollow pollard- 

 ash that had been the mansion of owls for 

 centuries, he discovered at the bottom a 

 mass of matter that at first he could not 

 account for. After some examination, he 

 found that it was a congeries of the bones 

 of mice (and perhaps of birds and bats) that 

 had been heaping together for ages, being, 

 cast up in pellets out of the crops of many 

 generations of inhabitants. For owls cast 

 up the bones, fur, and feathers of what 

 they devour, after the manner of hawks. 

 He believes, he told me, that there were 

 bushels of this kind of substance. 



