150 
OWLS. 
the loose snow, and make their way beneath it to a consider- 
able distance.^ 
Our well-known White Owl is a very different bird in its 
habits : so far from wandering far from the abodes of man, it 
is always near or about our dwellings; the constant frequenter 
of our barns and outhouses, and one of the farmer’s best 
friends ; for to it we are indebted for the destruction of the 
shrew-mice, a species which, hut for the good service of our 
Barn-Owls, might prove a great annoyance to our gardens 
and fields, since, owing to a peculiar flavour or smell, neither 
cat nor dog will eat them. On the approach of twilight, j 
they sally forth from their roosting-places, and hunt the 
meadows and hedge-hanks with the regularity of a pointer- 
dog ; every now and then they may he seen to drop suddenly 
down, with great rapidity and unerring aim, on their game, 
which is seized on and swallowed at once, without any attempt 
to tear it in pieces with its claws. If, however, they have 
young ones, they carry off the prize in their claws ; and here 
a curious piece of address is practised. It is evident, as long 
as the mouse is retained by the claw, the old bird cannot 
avail itself of its feet, in its ascent under the tiles, or approach 
to their holes; consequently, before it attempts this, it perches 
on the nearest part of the roof, and there removing the mouse 
from its claws to its bill, continues its flight to the nest. Some 
idea may be formed of the number of mice destroyed by a 
pair of Barn-Owls, when it is known that in the short 
space of twenty minutes the old birds carried food to their 
young twelve times, thus destroying at least nearly forty 
mice every hour during the time they continue hunting ; and 
as young Owls remain long in the nest, many hundreds of 
mice must be destroyed in the course of rearing them. 
If taken young they may be tamed, so far as to eat out of 
the hand, and become to a certain degree familiar ; but in 
their wild state even, they seem to be sensible of kindness, and 
lose much of their shyness if never disturbed. A gentleman 
in Yorkshire, Mr. Waterton, who has paid great attention to 
their habits, gives a very interesting account of their mode 
* King’s Narrative , vol. i. p. 126. 
