12 THE BARN OWL. || 
fast asleep. BufFoii 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 
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. j 
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 j 
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 sua 
shone bright.— C. W. - ! 
