about ten o'clock at night
He was a clerk in the Wilts and Dorset Bank at Salisbury , was married and had one child . His age at the time of the experience here related was twenty-eight . His health was excellent . On the 30th November , 1887 , at about ten o'clock at night , he was returning home from Amesbury where he had been spending the evening at a friend 's house . The weather was mild , with a rain-bearing wind blowing in squalls from the south-west . It was three-quarter moon that night , and although the sky was frequently overcast it was at no time dark . Mr. Beckwith , who was riding a bicycle and accompanied by his fox-terrier Strap , states that he had no difficulty in seeing and avoiding the stones cast down at intervals by the road-menders ; that flocks of sheep in the hollows were very visible , and that , passing Wilsford House , he saw a barn owl quite plainly and remarked its heavy , uneven flight .