172 VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF LAKELAND 



the very top of a tall tree, upon which it contrived to balance 

 itself for a few moments before resuming the chase. At one 

 time or another most people have seen this Owl mousing during 

 the later hours of the afternoon. Mr. W. Hodgson and other 

 members of the Carlisle Scientific Society were visiting Bew- 

 castle, on April 29, 1889, when at mid-day they saw a fine 

 Barn Owl skimming leisurely over the high pastures above 

 Knorren Lodge on the Cambeck. The Barn Owl exhibits more 

 determination in private life than might be imagined from its 

 public appearances, as the following facts will show. Quite 

 recently, an idle fellow caught a Barn Owl near Carlisle, and 

 carried it alive to the house of one of my acquaintances. It was 

 placed in an aviary already tenanted by three Tawny Owls. 

 These last had lived together peacefully enough, but the arrival 

 of the stranger introduced an element of discord, and desperate 

 battles ensued. The Barn Owl fought bravely against its 

 opponents, but was overpowered by numbers, and soon suc- 

 cumbed to the ill-treatment it had received. A second Barn 

 Owl was produced to take the place of the deceased. Quarrels 

 again broke out, but the new-comer thrashed its three opponents 

 single-handed, and evicted them from the box in which they 

 usually spent the day, which was thenceforth reserved for its 

 sole use. 



LONG-EARED OWL. 



Asio otus (L.). 



Opinions have always differed as to the relative abundance 

 of the Long-eared Owl. T. C. Heysham states, in a letter of 

 November 28, 1836, 'Although this bird breeds in the fir planta- 

 tions in this neighbourhood, the eggs are exceedingly difficult to 

 meet with, so much so, that during the last nine or ten years 

 I have only been able to secure a single nest.' Dr. Gough, 

 writing apparently at the end of the ' seventies,' remarks: ' I am 

 inclined to think that this species is more abundantly distributed 

 in this district than we have hitherto regarded. From an 

 account given me of a large company of Eared Owls, in a wood 

 of yew-trees on the east side of the [Morecambe] Bay, I came 

 to the conclusion that they were the long-eared species.' He 



