28 THE BARN OWL 



there to prey on the pigeons' enemies, and Owls and 

 Pigeons lived amicably together in the same home. 



Lord Cathcart, in a paper contributed to the Royal 

 Agricultural Society, said: " Our ancestors, wiser than 

 we, always made in their great barns ingress for Owls 

 an owl-hole, with often a stone perch." And the Rev. 

 P.O. Morris tells of a pair of this species which lived in 

 a barn near Norwich, and were so fearless that they 

 would stay there whilst the men were threshing ; they 

 waited on the flails as rooks do on the plough, and if a 

 mouse were dislodged by the removal of a sheaf they 

 would pounce upon it without minding the men's 

 presence. They hunt mice amongst the stacks, too, in 

 the farmyard, staying there all night often, if mice 

 abound. As P. Newman says, " The farmer pays the 

 price of a sack of grain for every Owl nailed to his barn 

 door, because that Owl would have destroyed mice every 

 night, and these mice, being relieved of their oppresive 

 enemy, would, in a very short time, consume a sack of 

 wheat, peas, or beans." 



Owing to its very deep plumage, the Barn Owl 

 looks larger than it is. Its eye is dark-coloured, almost 

 black : its glance is directed forwards. The facial disk 

 is very prominent ; at rest, it is heart-shaped, and it is 

 edged with white and rust-colour. The bill is yellowish 

 in colour, and is slightly hooked. The legs are scantily 

 feathered, and the toes almost bare : the claw of the 

 middle toe is serrated along its inner edge. The body- 

 plumage is soft as silk, and yielding, and thickly pearled 

 with white and dark markings on the beautiful ash-grey 

 back. The flanks are pale with a reddish tinge, in places 

 very bright, and sprinkled with tiny pearl-like spots of 

 light and dark colour. 



