150 BRITISH BIRDS. 



of examining, he only in one instance found remains of a bird ; and that 

 was half a blackbird. Waterton records an instance, which he saw himself, 

 of a Barn-Owl dropping down into a pond, like an Osprey, and flying off 

 with a fish. 



The usual note of the Barn-Owl is a screech inexpressible in words. It 

 is most frequently heard early in spring, and always at night. It may 

 not be so discordant as the music that was heard when 



Ye torn cats were sitting atop of ye wall 

 As Sir Plimsoll sat sipping his wine, 



or so melancholy as the wild cries of the Black-throated Divers that 

 greeted our ears all night through as we were driven up stream in the 

 ' Thames ■" on the Yenesay, amidst ice-floes and pack-ice ; but it is harsh 

 enough and weird enough to have given the bird a bad name amongst 

 ignorant and superstitious country folk. Besides this " screech ^^ the 

 Barn-Owl has a " snore," generally supposed to be confined to the hungry 

 young, though Norgate tells me he has heard it from a bird on the wing. 

 Barn-Owls are very fond of nesting in the roofs of churches; and the 

 "snore" is often heard during service, the unwonted noise having 

 apparently wakened the young Owls, who naturally feel hungry after their 

 sleep, and begin to " snore,^' a habit which the bipeds with feathers may 

 have learnt sitting over some pulpit from the bipeds without feathers 

 sitting under it. 



The Barn-Owl is not an early breeder, eggs seldom being found before 

 the end of April or the beginning of May ; but it often has two, and some- 

 times three broods in a season. Norgate tells me he has found unfledged 

 young in November ; and Waterton found one in December. Occasionally 

 the eggs are laid at intervals. I once climbed up to a Barn-OwFs nest in 

 a hollow oak near Oxford, and took out of the hole two nearly fresh eggs, 

 two young birds recently hatched, and two nearly fledged. This must have 

 been an exceptional ease, as out of the numerous nests which Norgate has 

 taken he has never met with a similar instance. 



The Barn-Owl makes no nest ; but the eggs are often surrounded by 

 pellets. The number of eggs varies from three to seven. They are pure 

 white, not quite so round as Owls^ eggs usually are, and with little or no 

 gloss. They vary in length from 1-7 to 1-53 inch, and in breadth from 

 1-3 to 1-2 inch. 



The southern form of the Barn-Owl has the general colour of the upper 

 parts buff, with fine grey vermieulations and black and white spots ; wings 

 and tail obscurely barred with dark brown; face and underparts silky 

 white, with a few spots on the flanks, and more or less rufous on the 

 breast; feet covered with bristly hairs ; claws black, irides black, bill pale 

 yellowish. The female resembles the male. Nestling birds are covered with 

 pure white down. 



