112 Strigidce. 



heard an owl utter sounds so much resembling the human voice 

 as those which our Tawny Owl sends forth. That observant 

 naturalist adds, ' Were you to pronounce the letter in a loud 

 and very clear tone of voice, and then after a short pause repeat 

 the same letter in a drawling, tremulous accent, you would have 

 a tolerably just idea of the hooting of the Tawny Owl. It will 

 sometimes produce a sharp cry, which sounds not unlike the 

 word " quo-ah " ; both male and female utter this cry.' This species 

 occasionally adopts the deserted nest of another bird, but usually 

 lays its eggs in a hollow tree, on the soft bed of its pulverized cast- 

 ings. Hewitson says that, like the Barn Owl, it deposits its eggs 

 at irregular intervals, the first being sat upon as soon as laid : the 

 young of the same nest differ in consequence very much in size. 

 Professor Newton says that ' for a considerable time the young, 

 covered with a grayish- white down, are fed at home. They after- 

 wards perch among the branches of trees near the nests, where 

 the parents long continue to feed them, and until summer is far 

 advanced the call of the owlets, sounding like the word " keewick," 

 may be heard at intervals from the leafy shade.'* This I am in 

 the best position to corroborate; for having kept one of these 

 birds for some time in confinement, together with a Barn Owl 

 and other birds, in an owlery which I constructed in my garden, 

 I opened the door one summer's day and gave them their liberty, 

 some ten or twelve years ago. The Barn Owl soon disappeared, 

 but the Tawny Owl never left the plantation hard by, and, find- 

 ing a mate, has annually bred in some ivy-covered trees within 

 thirty yards of my house ; and every day throughout the spring 

 and summer, and oftentimes in autumn and winter too, I hear 

 and see my favourite owls, old and young, as evening comes on ; 

 and so bold and fearless are they when the young birds leave 

 the nest, that when on one occasion I was creeping quietly under 

 the trees for a nearer view, I was startled by one of the old birds 

 coming up noiselessly, and unexpectedly flying at my head and 

 knocking off my hat, to my intense satisfaction ; but a feat which 

 they repeated more than once, and even scratching the face of 

 Fourth edition of Yarrell's ' British Birds,' vol. i., p. 152. 



