3652 Birds. 



I had a good view of their proceedings ; the birds were continually 

 snapping at the numerous small moths which were hovering over the 

 heaps of hay. The birds are not very shy when pursuing their prey, 

 for they would glide along close by me ; amidst the gloom one could 

 see them looming in certain positions, as a ship at sea is sometimes to 

 be seen in the night-time. At times the fern-owls would suddenly 

 appear close to me as if by magic, and then shoot off, like meteors 

 passing through the air. 



The spectral and owl-like appearance, the noiseless wheeling flight 

 of the birds as they darted by, would almost persuade one that he was 

 on enchanted ground, spell-bound, whilst witnessing the grotesque 

 gambols of this singular bird ; there only wanted Puck, with his elfin 

 crew, attendant fairies, &c, in connexion with the aerial flights of the 

 fern-owl, to have made it, as it was to me, a tolerably complete ' Mid- 

 summer Night's Dream,' especially as the fever of my night-haunted 

 imagination had not as yet vanished. As it was, I was delighted with 

 this nocturnal and beautiful scene from Nature, and I wished at the 

 time that some of our museum-naturalists had been with me, to have 

 shared the pleasure that T felt. 



Daylight now rapidly advanced, and the fern-owls had vanished into 

 their woody domain, and all was still. After a good wash at a little 

 brawling rivulet, I felt myself refreshed, and my rustic toilet com- 

 pleted, I dashed into the thick tangled wood in search of further 

 adventures. 



At the latter end of June, 1830, I started at 12 o'clock at night with 

 a friend from Bermondsey, Surrey, for a walk to Bexley, over Dart- 

 ford Heath, to Wilmington and Hawley, Kent. We arrived at the 

 Bull Inn, on the top of Shooter's Hill, between 2 and 3 o'clock in the 

 morning. Here the fern-owls were very busy, hawking for food about 

 an elm tree close to the inn ; and we sat down on the bench outside 

 the house for half an hour to refresh ourselves, and at the same time 

 to admire the clever quick movements of the birds. There were seve- 

 ral of them, and they kept flying about the outskirts of the wood op- 

 posite the inn ; but the elm tree seemed to be a favourite resort, there 

 being no doubt plenty of moths and beetles about it. The place was 

 all alive with fern-owls, and their continued singing, with occasional 

 sharp squeaks, made the locality ring again, particularly about the 

 keeper's house. The birds did not seem in the least alarmed or shy 

 at our presence, but flew so close to us that I nearly knocked one 

 down with my stick. 



