671 
Wild Birds Usefid mid Injurious, 
birds, and fish ; whilst beetles, including the destructive cock- 
chafer, are sometimes devoured by it in great numbers. 
The wood-owl seldom ventures abroad during the day, for it 
appears to be greatly inconvenienced by the light of the sun. 
If it is disturbed from its retreat before dusk, it is amusing to 
Fig. 4. — Tawny Owl, Strix ahtco. 
see the small birds of the neighbourhood collect to jeer at and 
mob it. Its best-known cry is the familiar hoot, “ Tu-whit ! 
to-who ! ” a merry note, and very pleasant to hear in the waning 
light of a still evening. It is an extraordinary instance of 
superstitious folly that the cry of this fascinating bird has been, 
and perhaps still is, considered the foreshadowing of evil, filling 
