OUR BIRDS OF PREY. 



67 



is very much the friend of the. farmer and in no wise the enemy of 

 -the game preserver. If this owl takes an ill-guarded cheeper or 

 a very young rabbit it is the exception, not the rule : it is the 

 trifling wage his good service has fully earned. 



The Tawny Owl may easily be induced, under favourable 

 conditions, to take up its quar- 

 ters near the houses of men. 

 The writer is familiar with a 

 pair of Tawnies which have 

 nested for many years in one 

 of several covered-in boxes 

 fitted up in the trees that over- 

 hang the shrubberies in the 

 grounds. Year after year they 

 bring up their young, nesting 

 sometimes in one box, some- 

 times in another. There are 

 other Tawnies in the woods and 

 parks about, but this pair are 

 the lords of their own district, 

 for like all birds of prey they 

 require a large area for their 

 hunt for food. No bird nests 

 earlier than the Tawny and Long-eared Owls, and this pair 

 have eggs well before the end of March, be the weather never 

 so cold or inclement. The old. cock had the misfortune to be 

 taken in a vermin trap some years ago, and was consigned to a 

 hamper in the stable loft with his leg in splints. Very shortly, 

 however, he escaped and regained his freedom. But the leg was 



K 2 



LO.NG-EARED OWL. 



