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 warhler 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 d'argmt^ 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 dri/ 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 would 
scarcely notice the distempered part. By means, 
