25<S TJie Long-Eared Owl. [Sess. 



five. Here all was going smoothly, — how long would it con- 

 tinue ? Again we decided upon a period of self-denial. C. 

 wood was " ruled out of bounds," until such time as the young 

 were calculated to be hatched. And it was April 1 9 before the 

 bonds of forbearance were loosened, and we stood again below 

 the nest. The very bushy fir top in which this nest was situ- 

 ated precluded any view of the sitting bird from below, and I 

 can re-create even yet the mental anguish which accompanied 

 the first thump on the tree. Would the Owl be still there, or 

 would she be gone like all the others ? All eyes were peering 

 into the fir top, and nothing happened. A second and a third 

 blow, several hard kicks, and still nothing happened. Vanished ? 

 ]^o man voiced the question ; the bird-hunter's hopes die hard. 

 One man, unable to endure the strain longer, began to swarm 

 up the tree ; the others kept their gaze aloft. He was half-way 

 up, and still nothing happened. He was almost " there " — a 

 world of meaning in that bird-hunting " there " — when, " Ah, 

 she's off ! " The gleeful shout went up, and a few seconds 

 later the news came down, " Five young, all sizes ; and an egg, 

 and the hindquarters of a field-mouse." The C. wood bird had 

 not failed us ; all the long score we had piled up against the 

 species was wiped out by the joy of that moment. For the first 

 time in our West Lothian experience a Long-eared Owl's nest 

 had, as we phrased it, " gone straight " 1 Afterwards, when we 

 had grown calmer, when we came to think about it, came to 

 recall the case of this same bird in 1907 when young had dis- 

 appeared, our rejoicing seemed a trifle premature. Again we 

 became the prey of forebodings, and one cold drizzling evening, 

 April 28, bestirred ourselves to learn the worst. We found our 

 forebodings unjustified — the Long-eared Owl was still " playing 

 the game." The nest contained a sadly reduced family of two. 

 We do not suppose that the old birds were responsible for 

 this reduction ; we do not suppose that they could have 

 prevented it. They had done their utmost for the race and 

 posterity ; what Long-eared Owl could do more ? We closed 

 the records of 1908 with an expression of sympathy for 

 a bird whom Nature and the " authorities " had used so 

 sorely. 



It was during the months that followed this season that 

 we became impressed with the absence of Long-eared Owls 



