178



On Crested Tits and other Wild Birds.



perhaps be permitted to record a few of my observations on Tawny

and Barn Owls in Shropshire.


On the 26th of July, 1912, my note book has the following :—

I had to-day an opportunity of making some interesting observations

on these two species. About 7.15 p.m. I saw two Tawny Owls

emerge from an old elm tree ; it being nearly an hour to sunset I

could see with ease. The two birds started beating the ground for

mice, etc To prove that in the first instance the birds had not

been disturbed, one of them very soon caught a mouse and flew into

a tree to eat it.


This hardly seems to tally with Mr. Bonhote’s remarks in his

“Birds of Great Britain,” where he says:—“ This species ... is

“ extremely nocturnal, never appearing until quite dark, and seldom

“ pursuing its prey in the open, but keeping to glades and rides in

“ the woods.” In this case it was perfectly light and the birds were

quartering over an open grass field. All this time I could hear a

curious high-pitched sort of squeal proceeding from several of the

neighbouring trees, and on crawling up to one on all fours, discovered

a young Tawny Owl and was able to watch him making this noise for

some minutes, besides which he uttered the well-known “kee-wick”

note. On moving forward I disturbed from a tree another Tawny

Owl which had a mouse in its claws, and with which it flew away,

the mouse dangling beneath it. Neither were the Tawny Owls the

only ones of their species that were about, for immediately after¬

wards I heard a curious snoring noise proceeding from another tree

near by, from which, when I approached it, a Barn Owl flew away.

It was evident that there was a brood of young ones in a nesting-hole,

and I found several pellets cast up by the owls lying beneath the tree,

which I examined. These pellets were composed exclusively of the

undigested portions of mice and voles, showing that this species of

owl—a fact which gamekeepers and others do not always realize—is

one of the most useful to farmers and agriculturists.


I might mention that in the same tree, within a few feet of

the owl’s nest, was a stock dove incubating her two eggs, and yet

people say that these owls kill pigeons.


The Barn Owl is a very expert mouser, and the way in which

it can sense a mouse and drop right on it in long grass, is amazing.



