THE BARN OWL. 



15 



the place of its retreat. Every pellet contains 

 from four to seven skeletons of mice. In sixteen 

 months from the time that the apartment of the 

 owl on the old gateway was cleaned out, there has 

 been a deposit of above a bushel of pellets. 



The barn owl sometimes carries off rats. One 

 evening I was sitting under a shed, and killed a 

 very large rat, as it was coming out of a hole, 

 about ten yards from where I was watching it. 

 I did not go to take it up, hoping to get another 

 shot. As it lay there, a barn owl pounced upon it, 

 and flew away with it. 



This bird has been known to catch fish. Some 

 years ago, on a fine evening, in the month of July, 

 long before it was dark^ as I was standing on the 

 middle of the bridge, and minuting the owl by my 

 watch, as she brought mice into her nest, all on a 

 sudden she dropped perpendicularly into the water. 

 Thinking that she had fallen down in epilepsy, my 

 first thoughts were to go and fetch the boat ; but 

 before I had well got to the end of the bridge, I 

 saw the owl rise out of the water with a fish in 

 her claws, and take it to the nest. This fact is 

 mentioned by the late much revered and lamented 

 Mr. Atkinson of Leeds, in his Compendium^ in a 

 note^ under the signature of W,, a friend of his, 

 to whom I had communicated it a few days after I 

 had witnessed it. 



I cannot make up my mind to pay any attention 

 to the description of the amours of the owl by a 

 modern writer ; at least the barn owl plays off* no 

 buffooneries here, such as those which he describes. 



