232 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



stepped in, increased, and, contrary to his wont, 

 remained in undiminished numbers during the 

 summer, amid the abundance of food. The not 

 unreasonable assumption is, that if Nature had 

 been left to herself, the scourge might not have 

 happened. 



There is a certain fatalism about the suggestion, 

 that voles increase periodically in quite a natural 

 way; and would vanish in their own good time, 

 without the interference of the owls, which 

 scarcely commends it to practical people. 



If the short-eared owl is nearest in habit and 

 appearance to the hawks ; the kestrel is nearest to 

 the owls. He is the day-mouser, and, notwith- 

 standing that he carries on his beneficent work 

 in sight of all men, his skin appears among the 

 rest. 



The larger birds of prey rank as vermin ; from 

 the harrier which quarters out the pasture-field 

 for the partridge, and the osprey that hovers over 

 the lake for the trout, to the golden eagle that 

 poises above the ptarmigan, and the mountain top. 



The hovering of the osprey somewhat reminds 

 one of that of the tern ; the descent is as swift, the 

 aim as straight. The capture is still more wonder- 

 ful, seeing that, whereas the sand-eels may be in 



