256 
WHITE OH BARN OWL. 
bad character from the supposed destruction, to 
young birds and game, &c. hut, so far as we 
have observed, without reason ; and the occasional 
seizure of some young bird, hare, or rabbit, from 
the preserve, is amply recompensed by cheeking 
the multiplication of the mice, shrews, and cam- 
panols, which, when numerous, are extremely 
destructive to many kinds of vegetation. Depre- 
dations on the pigeon cot seem equally without 
foundation ; jackdaws often enter the houses 
for the purpose of breeding, but at the same 
time feast on the pigeon’s eggs, and for this, or 
the depredations of rats, which commonly also 
abound, has the White Owl been blamed. Our 
valuable correspondent, Mr Thompson, mentions 
a case where their forbearance was well exempli- 
fied : in a dove-cot in or near Belfast, a pair of 
White Owls had their nest, “ this contained four 
young, which were brought up at the same time 
with many pigeons, the nests containing the latter 
were on every side, but the Owls never attempted 
to molest either the parents or their young.” * They 
are, in fact, rather protectors than depredators, for, 
if breeding themselves in the vicinity, the rats will 
be seriously thinned to supply food for the young. 
In the instance above alluded to, “ never less than 
six, and so many as fifteen mice and young rats 
have been observed on the shelf beside the nest, 
and this -was the number left after the night’s 
* Magazine of Zool. and Bot. ii. o. 178. 
