OWLS. 
379 
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 
out-houses, and one of the farmers best friends; for 
to it we are indebted for the destruction of the 
shrew-mice, a species which, but for the good 
service of our Barn-Owls, might prove a great an- 
noyance 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, they sally 
forth from their roosting-places, and hunt the 
meadows and hedge-banks with the regularity of a 
pointer-dog ; every now and then, they may he seen 
to drop suddenly down, with great rapidity, and un- 
erring 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 he formed of the num- 
ber 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 
