THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 



47 



and small birds. When he first leaves his retreat, the crows and other birds 

 attack him. But he seems more amused by their clamour than alarmed at it, 

 and dashing through the air soon leaves them behind. 



He is considered a bird of ill omen, and few people like to meddle with him. 



rHK SHORT-EARED OWL. 



THE SHORT-EARED OWL. 



Now and then the sportsman, as he makes his way over the fields in the 

 south of England, rouses a bird that was sitting very contentedly by the green 

 margin of a stream or brook. 



