164 ACCIPITRES. 



depths of forests or groves, and nestling in the hollows of 

 old trees. It will sometimes take up its abode in a single 

 close tree near the house, in the ivy which covers old walls, 

 or sometimes in a barn or in an out-house ; but these latter 

 places are not quite natural to it, and it is attracted to them 

 chiefly by the abundance of game which their vicinity 

 affords. 



In the barn it is a most excellent mouser, but it is just as 

 destructive in the pigeon-house, where, if it can find access, it 

 commits great devastation. It is also very destructive to the 

 young of rabbits, hares, and partridges. It seizes its prey 

 with great boldness, skinning the mice before it eats them, 

 and tearing the larger game in pieces. 



It is more strictly a night owl than many of the others, the 

 light concha and the prominent eyes probably admitting too 

 much side-light into the eyes, or obliging it to close the 

 pupil, by which means its vision is confused, so that it can 

 with difficulty see its way ; and when overpowered in the 

 sunshine, it may be struck down with a stick. There is no 

 doubt that the feathers around the eyes of owls, which are in 

 general capable of partial erection, serve to collect and con- 

 centrate the light on which they fly as well as to exclude the 

 side-lights ; and the eyes of this one, not being so deeply 

 enfonced as those of most of the others, are not able to bear 

 the solar light when collected by their own reflectors, and by 

 the very convex external surface of the aqueous humour. 

 People with prominent eyes are least able to bear strong 

 light. 



The tawny owl, though not very numerous in any part of 

 the country, is very generally diffused in all wooded places, 

 which are in the neighbourhood of an adequate supply of 

 food. It is most partial to rank soils overrun with vegeta- 

 tion, and containing decaying trees, tangled ivies, and un- 

 pruned bushes ; because there it can find a resting-place 



