in praise of Owls.



165



whether boy or bird is more smartened up. Since she has been

allowed a bath the Owl has moulted into a particularly well-marked

handsome bird, and w r hen I see her old master swaggering down the

village street “ on leave,” and recall his former intense grubbiness,

words fail me wherein to describe how marvellous is the change.

“ Mrs. Hutchings ” is tame and very charming, but Tawny Owls are

too well known for me to enlarge upon her management and

character.


Sharpe’s Wood Owl was also very “ rough ” when sent to me,

and a course of baths and a moult were needed before his great

beauty could be perceived. He is a typical Wood Owl in appear¬

ance and ways, and has become very confiding, always expecting

attention and a tit-bit when his aviary is entered. At first he

snatched dreadfully, but he has learnt that it is not good form to

pounce with both claws and his beak when a mealworm or

cockchafer or even a mouse is held out to him, and he takes the

gift in a proper and gentlemanly manner. The Burrowing Owls

are not so friendly, nor do I think they will ever become so, but they

are pretty and interesting and keep themselves beautifully spruce,

though they rarely (if ever) bathe. They also are so well known

that no further detail is necessary. The staple food of all these

Owls is rabbit; rats, mice and sparrows are given when obtainable.


Next come the Marbled Owls. I have had them for several

years; they were imported by Messrs. Wallace and Payne with a large

consignment of Australian birds, and I do not think any have since

come into the market, though some have been on view in the London

Zoological Gardens. I have been told that the Marbled Owl is a

variety of the Boobook. Mine are gentle, confiding, and very pretty,

especially the hen ; about half the size of our Tawny and with the

same full, soft plumage ; general colour dusky brown, breast lighter

streaked with warm brown; the wing coverts and the scapulars are

‘ marbled ’ with round white spots ; eyes greyish yellow, but some¬

times, when the light catches the pupils in a particular way, they

look red as rubies. A dark patch just behind the eyes adds very

much to their beauty.


The cock cannot fly very well owing to a drooping wing, and

is sometimes allowed to come out of the aviary and visit his neigh-



