ON THE CRY OF THE WHITE AND BROWN OWLS. 381 
the wing and at rest on the ridge of our house. Indeed it is a 
common habit of the latter species to utter its cry while flying, 
though I cannot remember that I ever saw a Brown Owl do so. 
Thus I have the evidence of my eyes, as well as my ears, to 
convince me of the truth. 
It must not for a moment be supposed that the instances of 
optical evidence to which I refer occurred in doubtful twilight ; 
on the contrary, all, or nearly all, were under the full light of the 
sun. The hooting which I have seen proceeded, of course, from 
our tame bird, either sitting on the lower branch of a tree or 
perched by my side on a garden seat. The screeching which 
I have seen was emitted by the parent birds in the act of bringing 
food to their young in the church-tower. When the young are 
grown large and require a liberal supply of food, the rapidity 
with which the old birds procure mice is almost incredible; 
it would really seem that they had an endless supply stored 
up ready for use. Many times in the course of each hour, 
from morning till night, one or other of the old birds might 
be seen returning to the tower, dangling below him at the full 
length of his long legs a mouse which he had just captured, and 
‘often as he approached sounding the dinner-bell more suo with a 
ringing screech. 
In deference to the late Sir W. Jardine, I will not attempt 
to explain, much less to contradict, his oft-quoted statement; 
but, admitting its truth, I do not think that an isolated fact 
unsupported by further evidence can outweigh the result of 
continuous observation extending over a period of more than 
thirty years. 
The greater part of the foregoing remarks were published 
long ago in “An Account of the Birds of Oxfordshire” (Zool. 
1849). Soon after this had appeared, Mr. Morris, taking shelter 
under the wing of Sir W. Jardine, impugned the correctness of 
our premises, and declared our arguments to be inconclusive. 
As protracted controversies generally become tedious, as well as 
for other reasons, I did not at that time consider it worth my 
while to notice his criticisms. In the above history of my own 
experience, I now give the best, and in truth the only reply I can 
make ; facts are stubborn things, and when founded upon original 
and actual observation are, I think, far more conclusive than ideas 
inspired by the statements of others. 
