asioxidj:. 133 



this appeal with all couiiclence. If people would oi\ly remember that Owls 

 do not come abroad to seek their prey until dusk, by which time all young 

 Pheasants are safely hovered under their mothers or in their coops, they 

 would see that any accusations brought against them of carrying off young 

 Pheasants can have no foundation. We have had Brown Owls living 

 around our house in a semi-domesticated state, sometimes nesting side by 

 side with Jackdaws in disused pigeon-boxes, sometimes availing themselves 

 of old Crows' uests in the trees, and often during the day we have seen 

 them perched asleep by the side of the chimney-pots on the roof of the 

 house. On warm, sunny mornings they would sometimes present themselves 

 on some bare branch, basking in the sun, and knowing their favourite 

 roosts in the various trees we could at all times of the day find them if wo 

 wanted to show them to any visitors. We have kept them as pets, and 

 have noticed that, like all other species of Owl we have had from time to 

 time in our possession, they require no water, either for drinking or for 

 bathing. One we had was very fond of roosting in our poultr5'-house, 

 where we have found him with a pullet on either side. Ho found a mate, 

 and the pair occupied a hollow tree in our grounds, where year after year 

 they brought up a family of Owlets. Going out some still moonlight night, 

 and imitating their hooting cry, we have soon had answers from the 

 various Hooters within hearing, and have drawn them close up to us, 

 having them perched all round on the roof of the house, and also on the 

 stables and outbuildings and on the surrounding walls. A friend who a 

 short time since amused himself in this manner assured us that he counted 

 twentj^-sis Owls hooting back to him from the woods on either side of a 

 beautiful valley. Any one rambling through a woodland country must 

 have heard the chattering of Jays, the harsh scolding of Mistle- 

 Thrushes, and the shrill notes of smaller birds engaged in mobbing and 

 teasing a Brown Owl discovered by them on his roost. This is a joke of 

 the woods which never grows stale. In the Great Exhibition in Hyde 

 Park in 1851 there was a very clever case of staffed birds illustrating this 

 common sylvan (jpisode, from the hands of Mr. G. Gordon, Curator of the 

 Dover Museum, a very skilful taxidermist. Xor must we omit to mention 

 two very beautiful specimens of bird-stuffing which were for some time 

 deposited in the A. ^[. M. at Exeter, the work of Mr. W. Brodrick, entitled 

 " Night " and " Morning." In " Night" a Brown Owl was mounted in a 

 very lively attitude, his eyes staring forwards into the dark, his ears 

 strained to catch the rustle of the mouse, in the very act of making his 

 pounce; Avhile "Morning" reveals him fast asleep in the chink of a big 

 bole, with an inquisitive Great Spotted Woodpecker climbing up and 

 peeping round at him. These were life-like studies; most cleverly exe- 

 cuted, and true works of art. 



Alas ! how often have we l)eon present wlien some Brown Owl has been 

 disturbed from liis roost in a tir-])laiitation by a sliooring-party. (Jreat 

 is the excitement ; boaters, kecptirs, and guns are all eager for his 

 destruction ; he is foolishly regar.led as a d lugerous poacher ; and, if 

 the chance offers, is as relentlessly potted as any prowling cat or weas(!l. 

 With loud shouts of " Owl, sir! Owl, sir I" he has sometiiucs f<n'tunatcly 

 tlowu up to our gun and has passed uway in safety. 



