62 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGs. 
tower,” instances are sometimes met with of the Barn Owl dwelling in society, in 
numbers sufficient to warrant the designation of an ‘‘ Owlery.” The writer knew 
of certain old cottages, just beneath a beautiful Henry VII church tower, which 
had all their roofs communicating, and these were tenanted by such a number of 
Barn Owls that the cottagers at last rose against them and ejected them, being 
disturbed by their strange noises, and some thirty or forty were expelled. 
A country house in North Devon had its roof similarly occupied by a society 
of Barn Owls, and here, too, the birds were voted a nuisance, and were driven out. 
There are other species of Owls that are known occasionally to congregate. 
The Barn Owl begins to nest sometime in April, and has, in general, more 
than one brood. The eggs are elongate, rounded at the ends, and are pure white 
in colour, smooth, and without gloss, usually from three to six in number, but a 
clutch of eight, and in another case even of ten has been met with; they measure 
from 1°78 to 1°53 inches in length, and from 1°27 to 1°18 inches in breadth. A 
hole in a tree, the top of the wall of a cattle shed, or barn, just beneath the 
roof, a church tower, crevices in cliffs, both inland and by the sea, ivy covered 
ruins, dove-cotes, and old chimneys, are among the usual sites chosen for depositing 
the eggs; no nest is made, and it is a usual thing for the eggs to be laid at 
intervals; first two are laid and incubated, and when the young are hatched two 
more eggs are laid, and these, in turn, are helped in incubation by the warm down 
of the Owlets squatting upon them; then other eggs follow in succession, so that 
there may be found in the same nest Owlets nearly fledged, others in down, eggs 
partly incubated, and the addled egg that is rarely absent. 
The note of the Barn Owl is a loud shriek uttered by night when the bird 
is on wing. While gathering moths /noctuc/ off the sallow-blooms at night by 
the light of a lantern, the writer has been startled by a Barn Owl suddenly 
delivering an unearthly shriek almost in his ear as, attracted by the light, it swept 
softly by to see what was going on. 
The young birds make a snoring sound, and snap their beaks when in the 
nest, and are covered with white down. 
When detected asleep upon its perch the Barn Owl presents a very wedge- 
shaped appearance; the thick end of the wedge is provided by the head, the body 
tapering off to the legs and tail. 
