12 



THE BARN OWL. 



fast asleep. BufFon and Bewick err (no doubt 

 unintentionally) when they say that the barn owl 

 snores during its repose. What they took for 

 snoring was the cry of the young birds for food. 

 I had fully satisfied myself on this score some 

 years ago. However, in December, 1823, I was 

 much astonished to hear this same snoring kind 

 of noise, which had been so common in the month 

 of July. On ascending the ruin, I found a brood 

 of young owls in the apartment. 



Upon this ruin is placed a perch, about a foot 

 from the hole at which the owls enter. Some- 

 times, at mid-day, when the weather is gloomy, 

 you may see an owl upon it, apparently enjoying 

 the refreshing diurnal breeze. This year (1831) 

 a pair of barn owls hatched their young, on the 7th 

 of September, in a sycamore tree, near the old 

 ruined gateway. 



If this useful bird caught its food by day*, in- 

 stead of hunting for it by night, mankind would 

 have ocular demonstration of its utility in thinning 

 the country of mice ; and it would be protected, 

 and encouraged, every where. It would be with us 

 what the ibis was with the Egyptians. When it 

 has young, it will bring a mouse to the nest about 

 every twelve or fifteen minutes. But, in order to 

 have a proper idea of the enormous quantity of 

 mice which this bird destroys, we must examine 

 the pellets which it ejects from its stomach in 



* Though the barn owl usually hunts during the night, still I have 

 repeatedly seen it catching mice in the daytime, even when the sun 

 shone bright.— C. W. 



