BARN OWL 
183 
most valuable of all friends to the keeper as well 
as the farmer, it may be hopedthat its numbers will 
tend to increase. It is a delightful bird, and the 
warm bufF plumage of the back, with its minute 
pencillings and eye-specks of brown, grey and 
white, is as beautiful as that of any English species. 
The under-parts are white, and so is the facial disc, 
which it can pull into all sorts of shapes, from a 
full moon to an inverted pear, according to its 
degree of wakefulness and interest in the proceed- 
ings of the world at large. Like most of our Owls, 
it is nocturnal in its habits, though it is now and 
then to be seen out and about before the close of 
a winter's afternoon. The softness of their wing- 
feathers enables Owls to fly absolutely noise- 
lessly, which is of course an immense aid to them 
in hunting for mice, rats, and other small and 
lively creatures. But the chief food of the Barn 
Owl is the various species of mice and land-voles, 
and the good it does in this way is immense. As 
its name indicates, it is especially a frequenter of 
barns, church towers, and other large crannied 
buildings, just as the Tawny Owl is fonder of 
the woods ; but it will also occupy a hollow tree, 
as well as holes in rocks, while the Tawny Owl, 
on the other hand, will sometimes inhabit a build- 
ing. I have also found it drowsing out the hours 
of daylight in an old Magpie's nest, another spot 
