76 BIRDS OF PREY. 
In the old continent it is almost domestic, inhabiting even pop- 
ulous towns, and is particularly attached to towers, belfries, 
the roofs of churches, and other lofty buildings, which afford 
it a retreat during the day. The elegant, graphic lines of 
Gray, describing its romantic haunt, are in the recollection of 
every one, — 
“From yonder ivy-mantled tower 
The moping Owl does to the moon complain 
Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, 
Molest her ancient solitary reign.” 
Superstition laid aside, these Owls render essential service to 
the farmer by destroying mice, rats, and shrews, which infest 
houses and barns; they also catch bats and beetles. They 
likewise clear churches of such vermin, and now and then, 
pressed by hunger, they have been known to sip, or rather eat, 
the oil from the lamps when congealed by cold. A still more 
extraordinary appetite, attributed to them, is that of catch- 
ing fish, on which they fed their voracious young. In autumn 
also they have been known to pay a nightly visit to the places 
where springes were laid for Woodcocks and Thrushes. The 
former they killed and ate on the spot; but sometimes carried 
off the Thrushes and smaller birds, which, like mice, they either 
swallowed entire, rejecting the indigestible parts by the bill,. 
or if too large, they plucked off the feathers and then bolted 
them whole, or only took them down piecemeal. 
In fine weather they venture out into the neighboring woods 
at night, returning to their usual retreat at the approach of 
morning. When they first sally from their holes, their eyes 
hardly well opened, they fly tumbling along almost to the 
ground, and usually proceed side-ways in their course. In 
severe seasons, 5 or 6, probably a family brood, are discoy- 
ered in the same retreat, or concealed in the fodder of the 
barn, where they find shelter, warmth, and food. The Barn 
Owl drops her eggs in the bare holes of walls, in the joists 
of houses, or in the hollows of decayed trees, and spreads 
no lining to receive them; they are 3 to 5 in number, of a 
whitish color, and rather long than round. 
