THE OWLS 225 



hole in the trunk, when he was suddenly hit in the back by 

 something. " Turning round, I saw a Brown Owl fly back 

 to his post in an adjoining tree, from whence he had made 

 his descent upon me. I continued my climb, and the same 

 attack was delivered with even greater force, a second and 

 a third time." When the climber reached the hole he 

 found out the reason of the bird's onset — "his wife and 

 nestlings were cosily ensconced in the hollow." 



Another pair of Brown Owls chose for their dwelling 

 the attic of an unoccupied house, and fiercely discouraged 

 the attempts of anybody to come near them. One day 

 a house cat was missing, and her master, suspecting 

 the Owls, went up to the attic to see if she had been 

 poaching and had got into trouble. His surmise was 

 right. There beside the nest lay the father Owl torn 

 and dead, but the defence had evidently been a valiant 

 one, and the cat lay near, also dead and with one of 

 her eyes picked out. 



Gilbert "White of Selborne notes in his interesting 

 way, in the compass of a single paragraph, three things 

 about the Brown Owl. He says, " When Brown Owls hoot, 

 their throats swell as big as a hen's egg. I have known 

 an Owl of this species live a full year without any water. 

 . . . When Owls fly they stretch out their legs behind 

 them as a balance to their large heavy heads ; for as most 

 nocturnal birds have large eyes and ears they must have 

 large heads to contain them. Large eyes, I presume, are 

 necessary to collect every ray of light, and large concave 

 ears to command the smallest degree of sound." 



This is one of the Owls that might be far more common 

 in our English woods and plantations were it not for the 

 enmity of the gamekeepers, who accuse it of preying on the 

 young game-birds. Even if the charge were true, the good 



IS 



