Northern Observations of Inland Birds 6i 



the pile of refuse was honeycombed by their burrows, 

 so evidently they had taken up permanent residence 

 there. 



I have, in the Gifford locality, several woods under 

 observation which this summer are subjected to the rat 

 plague, and I have been astounded at the vast number 

 of decapitated youngsters lying about — generally on their 

 backs, and all killed in the same way. In some cases 

 I have counted as many as twenty half-grown specimens 

 scattered over fifty yards of open riding, the work 

 being very obviously that of owls, as indicated by the 

 manner in which the rodents were left, and further by 

 the abundance of owl feathers lying about. The brown 

 or tawny owl and the long-eared species are most active 

 in my own locality — particularly the long-eared, which 

 seems to be acquiring the habit of rat hunting to a more 

 and more marked degree. Hitherto it has been customary 

 for keepers to kill these birds on account of their occasional 

 sins in the way of Ufting pheasant chicks just before 

 dusk. Undoubtedly a few chicks are taken in this way by 

 tawny owls, though the long-eared member of the family 

 is a very timid bird, and normally eschews the haunts 

 of man ; but we may take it that the rat invasion of our 

 woods constitutes a far greater menace than the owl, 

 which is the most assiduous rat killer that we have. 



Therefore, I would urge upon all interested in game 

 preservation that every step be taken to protect our three 

 commoner species of owls. The little owl is an alien, 

 like the rat himself, and so far as I can judge he is more 

 partial to a feathered meal than to a furred one, while, 

 except on the east coast of England, the short-eared owl 

 is not well known. 



I believe it was practically unknown among Scottish 

 naturalists who had no book knowledge before the 

 Border vole plague of 1891-92. This bird is a migrant, 



