198 Birds I Have Kc}if. 



necessarily limited, aud tlie mice have growu so cuiiuiug that 

 they can be but very rarely caught. I apprehend therefore 

 that I shall have to get rid of Master Coquimbo in the end; 

 I shall be sorry, very sorry to have to do so, but on the other 

 hand I cannot see the poor fellow slowly starve. If only I 

 could catch more mice! there are plenty of them about, but 

 they soon get to know all about the various kinds of traps, 

 and will not go near them. Can anyone suggest a snare that 

 will not frighten them away, one that will kill as well as 

 catch them? I have tried many kinds, but after a few days 

 they become useless, for the mice refuse to be tempted into 

 them by the most enticing bait. 



"Without a doubt my Prairie Owl is "an amoosiii little cuss", 

 but I shall have, sooner or later, to get rid of him I fear. 

 He starves on butcher's meat aud the various delicacies I have 

 enumerated; mice appear to be his favourite food, and he pre- 

 fers them young and tender : birds he will eat, if not too 

 tough, as he did two Budgerigars the other day, but these are 

 not always to be obtained, and to buy them specially for his 

 table would involve me in greater expense than I care to 

 incur for his sake. 



Since writing the above, I liave heard my Prairie Owl give 

 utterance to a sound tliat may be described as ''a short sharp 

 bark" — it is not unlike the impatient yelping of a young 

 puppy, and is emitted, I find, when the bird is hungry: I 

 have not noticed it at any other time, but invariably when 

 he has barked, I have found that all his provisions were 

 consumed, and that like Oliver he was ''asking for more." 

 The question here ai'ises, when the Prairie Owl in his wild 

 state utters this ''short sharp bark" is he hungry? and, if 

 so, to whom does he address his appeal for food? 



THE END. 



B. PAWCBTT, ENGRAVE i; AXD PRINTER, DRIFFIELD. 



