130 JOURNAL OF THE TRINIDAD 



man or his industry in any way and should be classed amongst 

 our friends and protected accordingly. Another night flyer is 

 even more decidedly still our friend — the Owl, — but how is he 

 treated? What does the Bard of Avon say of him ? He 



is him with goblins and eh I ' ; he is the omnivorous 



and fearful owl of death, and owl's shrieks herald the death of a 



rious felon. And yet the owl is a creature whose presence 



[o nothin i and who ises, means 



ruin, disaster and starvation. But mankind shoots and destroys 



• an assiduity which is unremitting. 



Man has few ; than rats, squirrels and mice and 



owls live almo tructive little rodents. 



[1 is general! that Trinidad has no held rats, 



, ) was here the other day, in a 



-, than nine different species of these 



animals in a call •.. Undoubtedly much of the 



dama, which is put down to squirrels 



is the work of rats. Rat nongst the most prolific of 



mammals and I lies are killed they increase 



i enormous i a very short time. To show you 



of i i are, an ! bhese remarks also apply 



to hawks, I will this : Up to very recently owls 



and hawks w ely by the farmers of the 



and things wen' on so until the Owls were almost as 

 extinct a lo and in a few years would have been so 



altogether. \\ in the uumber of Owls and Hawks 



red an en 1 rats and a proportionate 



tuntry suffered and the Govern- 

 had bo i han I. Under the advice of 



eminent a nplete collection of the 



Owls and Hawks of the United States was made. Their life 

 histori were made of them, 



full (' ' habits and. modes of life were distributed 



free over - and at last the people began to see 



that the owls and ' i . and not their enemies, 



although they did, sometim an occasional stray chicken. 



Only last in the North of England 



at the vast Lnc of voles and it was soon 



tained that bhe ca bhe persecution- of the owls and 



hawks which were kill iorially varied their 



dinners with young ph Or partridges. What shall we say 



the Owls oi "ailed Jumby Birds. Should 



one hoot out hi [ht a particularly fine rat or 



mouse our v he is foretelling 



• in the house. Certainly the note is not 

 a very cheerful one an at night its harsh 



disturbance of 1 'alstillne q ted by the superstitious. 



