2 68 WHITE, OR BARN OWL. 



found here during very severe winters. This may possibly be 

 owing to the want of those favourite recesses in this part of 

 the world which it so much affects in the eastern continent. 

 The multitudes of old ruined castles, towers, monasteries, and 

 cathedrals, that everywhere rise to view in those countries, are 

 the chosen haunts of this well-known species. Its savage cries 

 at night give, with vulgar minds, a cast of supernatural horror 

 to those venerable mouldering piles of antiquity. This species, 

 being common to both continents, doubtless extends to the 

 arctic regions. It also inhabits Tartary, where, according to 

 Pennant, "The Monguls and natives almost pay it divine 

 honours, because they attribute to this species the preservation 

 of the founder of their empire, Ginghis Khan. That prince, 

 with his small army, happened to be surprised and put to 

 flight by his enemies, and forced to conceal himself in a little 

 coppice ; an owl settled on the bush under which he was hid, 

 and induced his pursuers not to search there, as they thought 

 it impossible that any man could be concealed in a place where 

 that bird would perch. From thenceforth they held it to be 

 sacred, and every one wore a plume of the feathers of this 

 species on his head. To this day the Kalmucs continue the 

 custom on all great festivals ; and some tribes have an idol in 

 form of an owl, to which they fasten the real legs of one." * 



This species is rarely found in Pennsylvania in summer. 

 Of its place and manner of building, I am unable, from my 

 own observation, to speak. The bird itself has been several 

 times found in the hollow of a tree, and was once caught in a 

 barn in my neighbourhood. European writers inform us that 

 it makes no nest, but deposits its eggs in the holes of walls, 

 and lays five or six, of a whitish colour ; it is said to feed on 

 mice and small birds, which, like the most of its tribe, it 

 swallows whole, and afterwards emits the bones, feathers, and 

 other indigestible parts, at its mouth, in the form of small 

 round cakes, w T hich are often found in the empty buildings it 

 frequents. During its repose it is said to make a blowing 

 noise resembling the snoring of a man.f 



* Arctic Zoology, p. 235. + Bewick, i. p. 90. 



