THE OWLS. 
records that lie shot one in the act of hooting ; and that at 
night, when not alarmed, hooting is their general cry. It 
snores and hisses, and, like other owls when annoyed or 
frightened, snaps its hill londly. Hats, mice, shrews, yonng 
birds, and beetles, form their food, and the mice especially 
suffer when it has a yonng brood to sustain. It has been seen 
to catch fish. It builds its nest in churches, old buildings, 
and barns, as well as in hollow trees near farmyards and 
villages. The nest is a rough one ; the female laying three or 
four white oval eggs. Young have been found so late as July, 
September, and even December. Mr. Blyth, in the Field 
Naturalist’’ s Magazine, throws some light upon this : “ A nest 
of the barn-owl last summer,” says he, “ in this neighbourhood 
(Tooting), contained two eggs, and when these were hatched 
two more were laid, which latter were probably hatched by 
the warmth of the young birds ; a third laying took place after 
the latter were hatched, and the nest at last contained six 
young owls of three different ages, which were all reared.” 
Yarrell states that he has been frequently told by boys in the 
country, that they had found eggs and young birds at the 
same time in this bird’s nest. 
In captivity, the barn-owl is a well-behaved and sociable 
bird, but the cries it utters are anything but melodious. It 
has not been named “ screech owl” without reason. Says 
Shakspeare, — • 
“ It was the owl that shrieked — the fatal bellman 
Which gives the stern’ st good night.” 
To give a description of all the owls would be to fill at least 
a hundred of these pages, as no less than sixty varieties may be 
numbered. Eight only of this number are tolerably well known 
to England, and the one just described is the commonest of 
them all, as it is likewise the most useful. As in the case of the 
rook and many another creature, whose lot it is to get a bad 
name, the owl is commonly regarded as a pilferer of pigeon- 
houses and hen-coops, and a bird to destroy which is to do a 
virtuous act. But, as has been proved, the owl is in reality a 
good servant to mankind, and will never touch tamed and ser- 
viceable creatures while wild vermin is obtainable. On one 
occasion a person who kept pigeons, and had often a great 
number of his young ones destroyed, laid it on a pair of owls 
which visited the premises, and accordingly, one moonlight 
night, he stationed himself, gun in hand, close to the dove- 
