130 GRABHAM : OWLS AND THEIR LONGEVITY. 
® 
which used to run about amongst the cages, kill them, and 
them back to their master’s call. I very much wanted to bu 
of these birds, but I believe the old man would have parted wit 
that he had sooner than let them go. ‘ 
The Long-eared Owl is, in my experience, the com 
Owl in the county, and I am glad to say I found 1 
of their nests last year, and most of the young birds got 
They nest very early in the year. I have often found 
eggs at the beginning of March, and they generally cho 
old magpie’s nest, squirrel’s drey, etc. In the fir plantatio 
can often be seen sitting on a branch close to the trunk, wi 
bodies elongated out of all proportion. They live almost 
on mice, as can be easily seen by examining the pellets which | 
cast up, and which are found beneath the trees they frequent; 
I have often noticed that they are much too cunning to eject t 
pellets underneath the tree where their nest is. 1 have never 
able to keep them alive more than three or four years, but I 
that my friend, the Rev. W. Tomlinson, Vicar of North Cave, 
has succeeded in keeping them longer, and one of his Owls 
I remember had a great partiality for eels. It would eat t 
greedily. They are often called Screech Owls, and, certainly, W 
there are a lot of them they do make an unearthly noise; but I 
to hear them. = 
The Short-eared Owl, often called the Woodcock — 
because it comes over to us in its greatest numbers W 
Woodcocks come over, breeds sparingly in the county, and | 
nest on the ground. I have often flushed them when patt 
shooting in October, and also on the coast when wild-tow 
I have generally kept them for three or four years. Like 
Owls, it has a very light and silent flight, and, when put up 12 PM" 
daylight, seems to be able to see its way about perfectly well. 
irides of this species are light golden yellow, those of the Lo 
Owl rich orange. ay 
The Tawny, Wood, or Brown Owl is the largest of 
breeding species, and a great favourite of mine. I have ke 
of them, and, in fact, have never been without one since * 
a boy at school and kept two of them in a locker in @ 
Fine, handsome birds they are, with a great look of wisdom 
large brown eyes, which they frequently blink and cover with 
T have had for sixteen years. My father, the late Dr. Grabh 
Pontefract, had one, which was taken out of the tower of 
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