Tawny Owl. Ill 



numbers within the last thirty years, and it is not now the very 

 common bird it used to be in this county. Gilbert White in- 

 stanced ' a large hollow pollard ash in Wilts, at the bottom of 

 which vast quantities of pellets cast up by the birds were found ;' 

 and in my younger days few barns were without it, and great 

 were the benefits it conferred on agriculturists in keeping down 

 the numbers of the destructive field-mouse ; but now the useful 

 Barn Owls are shot and trapped by short-sighted,' ignorant men, 

 and the mice multiply in consequence. Gilbert White noticed 

 that when owls fly they stretch out their legs behind them as a 

 balance to their large heavy heads. 



24. TAWNY OWL (Syrnium stridula). 



Most plentiful of all the Wiltshire Owls is this species; for 

 while the Barn Owl has greatly diminished in numbers, the 

 Tawny or Brown Owl has certainly increased with us of late 

 years. It is not, perhaps, so readily noticed as its white rela- 

 tion, for it possesses more retired habits, and loves the solitude 

 of thick woods, and seldom leaves its lurking-place till night- 

 fall. Neither is it quite so innocent as the ' Barn Owl/ for it 

 does not always content itself with mice, rats, and moles, but 

 sometimes preys on young rabbits and leverets as well. More- 

 over, I have known it make great havoc among the young un- 

 fledged rooks in my rookery, and great indeed is the commotion 

 when the Tawny Owls make a raid on the nests of their sable 

 neighbours breeding in the same plantation just over their heads. 

 In Sweden it is called Katt-Ugla, or 'Cat-Owl'; 'for its head/ 

 says quaint old Pontoppidan, ' is more like a cat's than a bird's/ 

 In France it is Chouette Hulotte and Le Chat-huant; in Germany, 

 Nachikaute ; in Italy, Strigge Maggiore ; in Portugal, Coruja do 

 Mato, ' Plantation Owl.' In England it is known as the ' Wood/ 

 the ' Ivy/ and the ' Brown/ as well as the c Tawny ' Owl. It is 

 very clamorous at night, making the woods and meadows re-echo 

 with its loud and melancholy hootings. Gilbert White declares 

 that at such times its throat will swell as big as a hen's egg ; and 

 Waterton says that neither in Europe nor America has he ever 



