ia ae 
“T made a place with stone and mortar, about four feet square, and fixed a thick oaken 
stick firmly into it. Huge masses cf ivy now quite cover it. In about a month or so after 
it was finished a pair of barn owls came and took up their abode in it. I threatened to 
strangle the keeper if ever after this he molested either the old birds or their young ones. 
This year I have had four broods . . . . and it will help to supply the place of 
those which in this neighbourhood are still unfortunately doomed to death.””—CHarLEs 
WATERTON. 
When farmers complain that the barn owl destroys the eggs of their pigeons they lay the 
saddle on the wrong horse. They ought to put the blame on the rat. If it were really an 
enemy of the dovecot we should see the pigeons in commotion as soon as it begins its 
evening flight. 
All day long, while the owls are snoozing and blinking in holes and corners, the kestrel 
keeps quartering the fields with the eyes of a lynx for mice and cockchafers. At night the 
owl takes up the good work of the kestrel, as the bats continue that of the swallow in the 
destruction of insects. 
Owls, it has been said, ought to be as common as rooks; they should be tempted in 
every way to live amongst us, and a reward should be given to every farm hand who brought 
first news of a nest upon the grounds. The remissness and ignorance of proprietors and 
keepers in the matter is so extraordinary, that, before a change can take place, the 
owl is likely to be altogether extinct. In Scotland I have heard they have positively been 
driven to importing owls from the Continent to cope with the mice. 
Owls are lynx-eyed cats with wings, and the benefit they confer upon agriculturists is 
almost incalculable. There are ten tiny creatures—four mice, three voles, three shrews— 
which, if not kept under, would quickly devastate our fields. Many English counties have been 
overrun by hordes of rodents, which, in many cases, have done very considerable damage. 
It has been computed that an owl, when it has young, will bring a mouse, etc., to its 
nest every fifteen minutes. 
Where, in game-preserving districts, owls have been shot down and exterminated, the 
inevitable results have followed, viz., swarms of rats and mice, in such numbers as to 
constitute a plague. 
Owls and kestrels are frequently attracted to game coverts by the number of rats and 
mice to be found there, in consequence of the food laid down for the game birds. Therefore, 
from the game-preserver’s standpoint, the destruction of birds of prey—owls, especially—is 
a short-sighted policy, as the two live well together. 
(The above leaflet is chiefly extracted from the following works :—“ British Birds,’ Seebohm; “Ornithology 
in relation to Agriculture, etc.,” Watson; ‘‘The Barn Owl,” W. H. Hudson; “Our Country’s Birds,” 
W. J. Gordon.) 
Educational Series, 13d. per 6 copies, post free. No. I.—_OWLS. No. II.—WOODPECKERS. 
Others in course of preparation. 
Pamphlets on the general question of Protection of Birds may also be obtained from the Society’s 
Publishing Department, Knowledge Office, 326, High Holborn, London, W.C., or of Mrs. F. E. Lemon 
Hon. Sec., Hillcrest, Redhill, Surrey. 
Special terms for County Councils and Educational Authorities. 
The Society’s Publishing Office, Knowledye, 326, High Holborn, London, W.C. 1896, 
