observed flapping gently along, searching lanes, hedge-rows,
orchards, and small enclosures near out-buildings. “ In this
irregular country,” says White of Selborne, “ we can stand
on an eminence, and see them beat the fields over like a
setting-dog, and often drop down in the grass or corn.”
They feed on rats, mice, shrews, small birds, and less commonly
on insects, parts of all of which have been recognized
at different times on examination of the rejected pellets,
which are generally to be found in abundance near any
favourite place of their resort. Waterton, in whom the
Barn-Owl found an able and grateful advocate, truly
observes that if this bird usually caught its food by day,
instead of by night, mankind rvould have ocular demonstration
of its utility in thinning the country of mice ; but,
though several times seen by him and others mousing in
broad daylight under a cloudless summer’s sky, to form a
proper idea of the number it destroys we must have recourse
to the means above stated. I t has also been known to catch
fishes which frequent shallow water, but this habit seems to be
very exceptional. “ When farmers complain,” he continues
(Mag. Nat. Hist. v. p. 13) “ that the Barn-Owl destroys the
eggs of their pigeons, they lay the saddle on the wrong horse.
They ought to put it on the rat. Formerly I could get very few
young pigeons till the rats were excluded effectually from
the dovecot. Since that took place, it has produced a great
abundance every year, though the Barn-Owls frequent it and
are encouraged all around it.” In further proof of which
assertion he conclusively urges the indifference shewn by
Pigeons towards Owls compared with their alarm at the
sight of a Hawk.
The Barn-Owl commonly lays from two to six eggs, which
are elongate and of a dull white, measuring from l -78 to
D53 by from D27 to 1*18 in. I t breeds later in the year
than most other Owls—seldom till towards the end of April.
Waterton once found a half-fledged Owlet in the nest in
December, but from May to July is the usual time for the
young, which are at first covered with thick white down, to
be hatched. Not unfrequently, as with some other Owls, a
second or even a third laying takes place before the first
family leaves the nest, so that Owlets of at least three different
ages may be found in one nursery, rvhile this continuous
succession at times goes on for some months, it being
probable that the warmth of the earlier birds materially aids
the development of the unhatched chicks, during the nightly
absence of the parents in quest of food, while their labour
in supporting so large a family must be more easily borne
by being spread over so long a period. The usual note of
this species is a loud scream, often uttered while on the
wing; the young in the nest make a snoring noise.
The Barn-Owl is common in all the counties of England ;
and, according to Thompson, is also the most common Owl
in Ireland. In Scotland its distribution is less wide, for
though common in the Lowlands and more southern parts of
the Highlands, it becomes rare towards the north. In the
Hebrides Mr. Gray has only been able to trace it in Mull
and Islay. Low states that it bred in Hoy, but it has not
recently been seen in the Orkneys, and there seems to be no
record of its appearance in the Slietlands or further to the
northward. I t does not inhabit either Norway or Sweden,
but a single example is said to have occurred once at Ystad
in the extreme south of the latter. I t is rare in Denmark,
and its distribution is limited to the mainland and some
only of the islands which form that kingdom. I t is not
found in Finland. In North Germany it is a well-known
though not very common resident. Over the more temperate
part of the European continent it is generally diffused, and
its range extends eastward, as far at least as Mesopotamia,
whence there is a specimen in the East India Museum, and
southward to Quilimane on the east and to Angola on the
west coast of Africa—the late Dr. Dickerson having obtained
a specimen at the former and there being one from
the latter in the Lisbon Museum. I t was also found
breeding in Madagascar by Mr. Edward Newton, and it
occurs in the Atlantic islands—the Azores and Madeira.
Whether it has not a further range in the Old World cannot
at present be determined, for authorities do not agree as to