CHAPTER VIII 



OWLS IN A VILLAGE 



In November, when tramping in the Midlands, 

 I paid a visit to a friend who had previously 

 informed me, in describing the attractions of the 

 small, remote, rustic village he hved in, that it 

 was haunted by owls. 



The night -roving bird that inhabits the 

 country village and its immediate neighbour- 

 hood is, in most cases, the white or barn owl, 

 the owl that prefers a loft in a barn or a church 

 tower for home and breeding-place to the hoUow, 

 ivied tree. The loft is dry and roomy, the best 

 shelter from the storm and the tempest, although 

 not always from the tempest of man's insensate 

 animosity. The larger wood owl is supposed 

 to have a different disposition, to be a dweller 



in deep woods, in love with " seclusion, gloom, 



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