THE TAWNY OWL. 



175 



timber more than the tawny owl. To the extreme 

 scarcity of breeding-holes, and to the destructive 

 measures of the gamekeepers, I attribute the great 

 rarity of this bird in our own immediate neighbour- 

 hood : add to this, that it sometimes rests on the 

 ground, under covert of a bush, where it is flushed 

 and killed by sportsmen while in pursuit of wood- 

 cocks. Were it not for my park, I believe that the 

 tawny owl would be extinct in this part of Yorkshire. 

 Some ten years ago, it was so scarce, that I seldom 

 heard its voice. Once or so, in the winter, I could 

 catch the hooting of a solitary owl as I was after the 

 midnight poachers ; but that was all : and, then, 

 whole weeks would elapse before I could hear the 

 pleasing notes again. At present, however, this 

 favourite warbler is on the increase. 



He who befriends the tawny owl, and loves to 

 have it near his mansion, may easily make a habi". 

 tation for it, provided there be a wood at hand, with 

 full-grown ash trees in it. But, no wood, no tawny 

 owl ; Point dC argent, point de Suisse, as the saying 

 has it. On examining his ash timber, he will occa- 

 sionally find a tree with a particular fungus on it ; 

 yellow when growing, and black when ripe. But 

 more of this, perhaps, another time, should I ever 

 offer to the public a short paper on the cause and 

 prevention of dry rot: a misnomer, by the way. 

 When this fungus falls to the ground, after the rains 

 of winter have set in, the bark on which it has 

 grown shows such faint traces of a change, that an 

 eye not accustomed to look for these things Avould 

 scarcely notice the distempered part. By means, 



