166



Miss E. E. Chawnek,



bours. He is then full of importance, ancl struts up and down with

all his feathers puffed out, breathing defiance and slaughter. He

dearly loves to be out in heavy rain and dances and plays with the

drops until he is thoroughly soaked ; his wife, being full-winged,

cannot be trusted in this way. Both these birds are particularly

fond of mealworms and other insects, and I have seen them pick up

and eat full-fed larvae of the Lime Hawk-moth which drop from the

big Lime beside their aviary. They also hunt and eat the large

brown spiders which are found underneath rubbish.


These Owls go to nest each year in a tub and lay three or

four large white eggs. The hen sits splendidly, but the eggs are

always clear: all through the nesting-time she is fed and jealously

watched by her mate, but they will allow me to hand in tit-bits,

which the hen accepts without leaving the nest or disturbing herself

in the slightest : in fact, she will frequently call when she hears me

passing, as a hint that she would like to be visited. The usual cry

is a double hoot, which sounds very much like a cuckoo gone flat.

They are fed on rabbit, young rats, mice and sparrows, and as many

cockchafers as I can obtain.


Once the hen escaped and I did not recover her for some

weeks, as the man who caught her did not know that she belonged

to me. When I got her back she was in good health, for fortunately

her captor possesses a sparrow-trap, but her feathers were draggled

and filthy. I think if the people who say that Owls do not need

water could have seen how that poor little creature rushed to the

bath as soon as she was released in her own aviary, they would alter

their opinion. I changed the water three times before she was

satisfied that evening, and she washed all over again during the

night. Some days elapsed before the cock would allow her to

approach him, I suppose his feelings were hurt by her elopement.

It is curious, considering their intelligence, how incapable an escaped

Owl is of providing for itself. Even wild caught specimens seem

altogether to lose their hunting instincts when they have been given

dead food for a year or so. Also they are, in my experience, quite

without the homing instinct which brings doves and small birds

back to the place where they have been fed. When an Owl escapes,

its only idea seems to be to hide in a thick bush or lofty tree until



