Birds. 2411 



Eagle Owl (Strix bubo). Several have been killed hereabouts, but 

 none in this parish. One shot at Shardlow in 1828. 



Long-eared Owl (Strix otus). Rather scarce in these parts. One 

 seen near Gorstey Leys, November 29 ; and another shot here No- 

 vember 24, 1844. 



Short-eared Owl (Strix brachyotos). Migratory, but irregular in 

 its visits. Arrives in the autumn, somewhere about old Michaelmas 

 day, and departs about the middle of March. It frequents the most 

 exposed parts of the country, caring little for woods, rarely settling on 

 trees. It destroys mice, reptiles, and numbers of beetles, which it 

 procures principally in turnip-fields. October 15, 1838: one killed 

 close to Melbourne. 



Snowy Owl [Strix nyctea). On May 20, 1841, I observed in the 

 meadows a majestic and beautiful owl, almost as large as an eagle, 

 which I have no doubt was a bird of this species. It departed in a 

 few days, after baffling the endeavours of several persons to shoot it. 



White or Barn Owl (Strix Jlammea). Breeds in the old oaks of 

 Donnington and Calke, and comes down to our low meadows towards 

 evening to feed, beating them over with exactness and care. In a 

 neighbouring village is a barn which has in its interior a small wooden 

 box, of dovecote-like appearance, which a pair of owls has occupied 

 for a great number of years. Year by year they live unmolested and 

 undisturbed, being encouraged rather than otherwise on account of 

 their predatory propensities. Hundreds of individuals have been 

 reared in this spot, but it is never occupied by more than one pair at 

 the same time ; for no sooner is a brood fully fledged and able to 

 maintain itself, than a pair of the strongest drive the rest of the family 

 from the spot, and occupy it themselves. Their larder is supplied on 

 a most baronial scale. The floor of the place is a foot thick with the 

 indigestible parts of their food, which are reproduced from the stomach 

 in pellets or castings ; and it may be perceived upon what food they 

 feed by the bones and refuse. Their favourite food is rats, mice, 

 sparrows, buntings, and beetles, and on this account are truly valuable 

 about farms. They deposit their eggs without nest on the castings, 

 and I have found as many as eight. Snowy nights oblige owls to seek 

 for food in barns and out-buildings : if unmolested they soon clear 

 them of rats and mice. Their name, I think, must be derived from 

 the dismal noise they make in the night. The word ' owl ' was for- 

 merly, perhaps, written * howl.' 



Tawny Owl (Strix stridula). Haunts our woods and copses, espe- 

 cially the young plantations of Donnington, and sometimes the largest 

 VII u 



