226 Birds Every Child Should Know 



timorous beastie suspects there is a foe abroad. 

 As owls live upon mice, mostly, it is important 

 they should be helped to catch them with some 

 device that beats our traps. If mice should 

 change their nocturnal habits, the owl's whole 

 scheme of existence would be upset, and the 

 hawks would get the quarry that they now 

 enjoy: mice, rats, moles, bats, frogs and the 

 larger insects. You see the farmer has in- 

 valuable day and night allies in these birds of 

 prey which take turns in protecting his fields 

 from rodents, one patrol working while the 

 other sleeps. On the whole, owls are the more 

 valuable to him. They usually continue their 

 good work all through the winter after the 

 hawks have gone South. Can you think of any 

 other birds that work for him at night? 



Not only can owls fluff out their loose, mottled 

 plumage, but they can draw it in so close as to 

 change their shape and size in an instant, so 

 that they look like quite different birds, or 

 rather not like birds at all, but stumps of trees. 

 Altering their outlines, changing their shape 

 and size at will, is one of these queer birds' 

 peculiarities. Their eyes, set in the centre of 

 feathered discs, do not revolve in their sockets, 

 but are so fixed that they look only straight 

 ahead, which is why an owl must turn his head 

 every time he wishes to glance to the right or 

 left. Another peculiarity is the owls' method 



