134 Short-eared Owl 



coarse, rushy marsh of only fifty acres, put up ten Short-eared Owls 

 in the course of an hour. At the same time, tlie keepers told me 

 that the commons at Sizewell and Scotts Hall were full of 

 Owls. A correspondent, Mr. W. A. Pain, in the Field (ist 

 February, 1908) wrote: "When in Suffolk about the middle 

 of November last, I was walking along the banks of the 

 river [Aldel at Orford Haven, and in the space of a hundred 

 yards, out of the grass growing on the banks, I counted thirty 

 Short-eared Owls liy up ; they rose in twos and threes every 

 step I took, and continued fly'ng over the river for several minutes 

 like a flock of sea-gulls." 



The food of the species consists, as I have already indicated, to 

 a large extent of rodents, especially field-mice and short-tailed voles 

 — half-grown rats are sometimes taken. The late Prof. Newton 

 describes finding portions of a bat in the stomach of one he examined. 

 Small Passerine birds, more especially the Larks and Pipits, which 

 frequent the open moorland and roost there, are common victims 

 of the Short-eared Owl, while the remains of large coleopterous 

 insects are generally found in their castings. The}^ are said to capture 

 various species of surface-feeding fish ! This is a statement for which 

 I could never find the smallest verification, and which I entirely 

 disbelieve. 



The Short-eared Owl deserves all the protection we can give it. 

 With us it is never shot, and the keepers are forbidden to injure the 

 birds in any way. It is a pre-eminently useful bird, and the good 

 that it does, bulks so large in its life history, that one may fairly 

 draw a veil over an infrequent lapse from the path of rectitude. 

 This Owl is so rare a breeder in the eastern counties, that almost 

 every description has been based upon its habits in the autumn and 

 winter months. It is, of course, quite harmless to game then, and 

 of incalculable service to the farmers. It is the breeding-bird which 

 on rare occasions brings discredit upon the race. 



In Norfolk, I personally only know of one place where this Owl 

 breeds ; that is on some rough, rushy marshes in the " Broad " 

 district. The Fenmen call the bird " the Marsh Old," a very 

 appropriate name ; c.f. " Wood Owl " for the Tawny species. 

 No game-rearing is going on anywhere near these marshes, and 

 there is, consequentl}', no inducement for these birds to offend 

 the game-preserver. But in Suffolk, oddly enough, I don't know 

 of a single marsh where this Owl breeds, but there are several 

 moorland commons where they nest almost every year. Some of 

 these heathery moors run right up to the Pheasant covers, and are 

 at no great distance from the rearing-fields. It then happens 

 occasionally that a Short-eared Owl will discover the rearing-ground 

 in the course of his nocturnal wanderings, and, in a misguided 

 moment, snatch a young Pheasant. 



" Facilis descensus Averni ! " It is the story of the Kestrel 

 over again. Once they have discovered how easy it is to obtain 



