88 THE BARN OWL 



hours are from dusk till dawn, it has been seen at 

 work as late as nine or ten on a bright summer 

 morning. But the vulgar boys of bird society are 

 fond of mobbing it when it appears abroad by day, 

 and it dislikes publicity. 



The barn owl lays its eggs in the places which 

 it inhabits. There is usually a thick bed of pellets 

 on the floor, and it considers no other nest needful. 

 The eggs are said to be laid in pairs. There may be 

 two, four, or six, of different eggs, in the nest, and 

 perhaps a young one, or two, at the same time. Eggs 

 are found from April, or even March, till June or 

 July, and there is, sometimes at any rate, a second 

 brood as late as November or December. This owl 

 does not hoot, but screeches. A weird and ghostly 

 voice it is, from which, according to Ovid, the bird 

 has its Latin name, Strix (pronounced " Streex," 

 probably, at that time). 



Est illis strigibus nomen, sed nominis hujus. 

 Causa, quod horrenda stridere nocte silent. 



It is a sound which, coming suddenly out of the 

 darkness, might well start fears and forebodings in 

 the dark and guilty mind of untutored man, which 

 would not be dispelled by a nearer view of the 

 strange object from which they proceeded. White, 

 ghostly, upright, spindle-shaped and biggest at the 

 top, where two great orbs flare, like fiery bull's-eyes, 

 from the centres of two round white targets, it 

 stands solemn and speechless ; you approach nearer 



