28 



Bird Notes and News 



villages where the Barn-Owl is considered 

 almost a sacred bird, and in one of these I 

 was very pleased a few days ago to see one 

 of these handsome birds flying about in broad 

 daylight. A keeper who happened to be 

 with me at the time told me that the bird 

 had done this for the last five or six years, 

 but that its mate never came out till dusk. 

 He knew where the birds nested, and assured 

 me that they reared a brood safely every 

 year. In another village, where Barn Owls 

 had inhabited the church roof from time 

 immemorial, the Vicar and churchwardens, 

 with the approval of the parishioners, went 

 to the additional expense of taking off part 

 of the roof, when the church was being 

 repaired, in order that the Owls might be^ 

 saved from being bricked in as they would 

 have been had they not been caught and 

 liberated before the work was finished. 

 These birds, or their descendants, are still 

 about, having since taken up their abode 

 close by in a large walnut tree with several 

 holes in it and in the neighbouring barns. 

 If everyone were as fond of their Owls 

 as these Hampshire villagers, these birds 

 would benefit greatly in consequence.* 



Barn and other Owls have often been 

 accused of taking young game-birds from 

 the reaiing-field, and it may happen that 

 such things have actually occurred and in 

 this manner. The Owl, attracted to the 

 field by the presence of rats and mice, which 

 are sure to gather where food is to be found, 

 hovers around the coops at dusk and maldng 

 a dash at a mouse or rat close to a coop, 

 perhaps frightens the hen, who in her 

 commotion scares the chicks from vmder 

 her. One or two of the chicks probably 



* The Rev. Julian Tuck, Rector of Tostock, in Suffolk, wrote 

 to tlie Society this spring (1916) that the Tawny Owl was 

 nesting in his church tower for the tentli consecutive year ; 

 and that he had another sitting on her eggs in a nesting-box, 

 so tame that she did not move or even open her eyes when he 

 paid her a visit. 



run out, and the Owl catching sight of 

 something moving, pounces upon it before 

 it knows what it has got. The moral of 

 this is that keepers should be careful not to 

 overfeed their birds or to leave lying about 

 food which will attract rats and mice, for 

 in the absence of the latter the Owls are not 

 likely to pay the rearing-field a visit. The 

 yoimg of wild Pheasants and Partridges 

 ought to be safely under their mothers' 

 ■\vings by the time Owls are abroad, so that 

 there is but little for the gamekeeper to 

 fear from the Owls in this direction. Seeing 

 that the rat is one of the worst — if not quite 

 the worst — of the enemies of game, it is to 

 the keeper's interest to preserve these useful 

 birds in every possible v/ay rather than 

 destroy them. 



Kestrels are attracted to the rearing-field 

 in the same manner as Owls — ^namely, by 

 the presence of vermin. The intelligent 

 keeper immediately understands the reason 

 for the birds' presence and regards them as 

 his allies, while the ignorant man jumps to 

 the conclusion that the Kestrels are " arter 

 the birds ' ' and endeavours to trap or shoot 

 them. It is very seldom that a Kestrel 

 will interfere with yoimg game-birds, and I 

 remember a case in Sussex in which three 

 pairs of these birds nested in a plantation 

 adjoining the rearing-field. All day long 

 these birds were about the place, but never 

 did they attempt to touch a bird, as the 

 keeper freely acknowledged, and he did 

 nothing to molest them. But Kestrels 

 will occasionally take to bad habits, and 

 the killing of one or two may be the means, 

 as already suggested, of saving the lives of 

 others of the same species. A keeper must 

 shew discrimination in matters of this sort. 

 I am glad to say that I have met many 

 keepers in the last few years who do judge 



