104 The Scottish Naturalist. 



due to the destruction of Hedgehogs, but I am at a loss to imagine 

 any more likely cause. 



Among birds of prey the Owl is undoubtedly the most deserving of 

 protection, and it is protected to a certain extent by law, that is to say, 

 it is included in the schedule appended to the Wild Birds' Protection 

 Act of 1880, and therefore any person killing owls between 1st March 

 and 1st August is liable to a penalty of 1 per bird. This Act is not 

 very strictly enforced, however ; and probably it is a good deal more 

 in favour of the Ow), that at well-regulated covert-shootings owls are 

 not shot when they make their appearance, as they often do on such 

 occasions. Although I don't think the Owl is getting much scarcer 

 in this neighbourhood, it is far from being treated as such a useful 

 bird deserves. Where pole-traps are allowed there must always be a 

 large number of owls destroyed. 



The Kestrel {Falco Tinminculus), also a harmless bird, living 

 chiefly on mice, cockchafers, &c, falls a victim to the same hateful 

 invention. The only other hawks we know of in this district are the 

 Sparrowhawk {Accipiter Nisus), the Buzzard {Buteo vulgaris), and 

 the Merlin {Falco AZsaloji). They are all looked upon as deadly 

 enemies to game, and I am not prepared to say that they do not kill 

 game. To say that game forms any considerable portion of their 

 food, I think is nonsense. There is nothing in the fact of a bird 

 being in the game-list to make it more attractive to the hawk ; and 

 game must form a very small item in his style of living. Admitting 

 that these hawks are enemies to game, there is still something to be 

 said in their favour in the interests of sport. Anyone who has read 

 reports in the newspapers regarding the opening day of grouse-shoot- 

 ing, must have observed that the grouse are always not only extremely 

 scarce, but extremely wild and difficult to approach. Why is this 

 the case ? It is because in most cases the only enemy that the grouse 

 have to fear is man ; and they find that the best way to baffle him is 

 to rest on bare exposed places, where they can command a good 

 view of the surrounding country, and can withdraw, chuckling at his 

 discomfiture," long before he gets within shot. The grouse do not 

 adopt these tactics where hawks abound. There they know no shelter 

 except under the brown heather, where even the keen eye of the enemy 

 overhead fails to detect their cowering forms. Some time ago I saw 

 a letter in The Field 'from the owner of a grouse-moor in the Hebrides, 

 stating that in consequence of his not allowing birds of prey to be 

 killed on his moor, he was enabled to shoot over days the whole sea- 

 son, and thus to have good sport without resorting to the driving 

 system. There is, therefore, something to be said for the Sparrow- 

 hawk, the Buzzard, the Peregrine Falcon, and the Merlin, from the 

 sportman's standpoint ; and as for the other animals to which I have 

 referred, the balance of evidence is in favour of their preservation. 



