74 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



food for the sitting owl lying by the nest — ■& mole perhaps, or a couple of mice. 

 The owl would sit very tightly, and usually declined to leave her nest until 

 the face of the intruder loomed over the edge of her chimney-hke home. And, 

 if disturbed from her nest, she would usually return to it in about half an hour 

 or so, but before actually ' falling ' into the nest she invariably spent some 

 time on a neighbouring oak-tree, gazing down on to the ground below her as 

 though trying to discern the cause of her disturbance. 



When she had finally convinced herself that there was no further need for 

 alarm, she would stretch her wings, and float down towards the entrance to 

 her nest, and backwatering, as it were, immediately above it, would poise 

 herself for a fraction of a second, and then, with wings still open, but pointing 

 upwards, would literally drop into it, her entrance causing a curious hollow 

 ' plomp ' — the sort of sound that a cushion makes when one drops it on a wood 

 floor. 



This particular owl was sitting on two eggs only : not by any means an 

 unusual number, although the Tawny frequently lays four, or even five. 



When the young owls eventually hatched, they seemed even more chubby 

 than the young Little Owls ; extraordinarily fat little creatures they were, 

 covered with short white down, which reached to their pink toes. They also, 

 when a few days old, had unhappy-looking red eyelids, which suggested that 

 they were suffering from a severe cold in the head and gave them a rather 

 unhealthy appearance. 



As the young owls developed, the pile of food by their side grew larger ; 

 field mice and rats formed the principal item, and so many of the latter were 

 brought in that the gamekeeper of the place — who was happily a man of 

 discrimination, and had no ill-feelings towards the owls — took, on several 

 occasions, a handful of rats from the nest in order, as he put it, to ' encourage 

 the old owls to hunt.' 



This may be considered a unique attitude for a gamekeeper to adopt, 

 but I know others who share his point of view. 



As a rule the nest of a Tawny Owl — as in the case under discussion — is 

 found to contain the bodies of rats, mice, and perhaps small rabbits ; whilst, 

 where the other three owls are concerned, the nests are almost invariably httered 

 with the remains of feathered quarry, or the castings composed of their bones. 



The Tawny Owl does not always nest in a hollow^ — sometimes it utilizes 

 the disused nest of another bird as a home for its eggs and young, and it is 

 not unusual to find it inhabiting an old magpie's nest, which, being constructed 

 with a roof, affords the sitting owl a certain amount of overhead cover. 



One of the illustrations shows a couple of red-eyed young Tawnies sleeping 

 off the effects of a gorge on young rabbit, and inhabiting a magpie's nest, 

 which was built at the top of an oak-tree — ^the latter half of the rabbit may be 

 seen by their sides. 



