176 BIRDS AND MAN 



At Willersey, a Mr. Andrews, a lover of 

 birds who owns a large garden and orchard in 

 the village, gave me an entertaining account 

 of a pet wood owl he once had. He had it 

 as a young bird and never confined it. As a 

 rule it spent most of the daylight hours in an 

 apple loft, coming forth when the sun was low 

 to fly about the grounds until it found him, 

 when it would perch on his shoulder and spend 

 the evening in his company. In one thing this 

 owl differed from most pet birds which are 

 allowed to have their liberty : he made no differ- 

 ence between the people of the house and those 

 who were not of it ; he would fly on to anybody's 

 shoulder, although he only addressed his hunger- 

 cry to those who were accustomed to feed him. 

 As he roamed at will aU over the place he became 

 well known to every one, and on account of his 

 beauty and perfect confidence he grew to be 

 something of a viUage pet. But short days with 

 long, dark evenings — and how dark they can 

 be in a small, tree -shaded, lampless village! — 

 wrought a change in the public feeling about the 

 owl. He was always abroad in the evening, 

 gliding about unseen in the darkness on downy 



