198 THE OWL 



loud in acclaiming against the destruction of hawks and owls 

 and in practice lose no opportunity of killing them, and either for 

 gain or self-gratification employ the taxidermist. Trapping, there- 

 fore, in the case of these birds, and also kite and buzzard, is seldom 

 requisitioned, for their havoc among game, poultry, and pigeons 

 is so pronounced and their prevalence so uncommon in other than 

 wild districts as to be regarded more as objects for the gun than 

 the trap. 



OWL. The Long-eared Owl, the Tawny or Brown Owl, and owls 

 generally are sometimes classed by gamekeepers and poultry- 

 farmers among winged vermin, but, except where extensive rearing 

 of game and poultry obtains, we think unjustly. True, an owl 

 acquiring the habit of taking a young partridge, pheasant, or chicken 

 from the pheasant and poultry-rearing grounds will come again 

 and again, and also make recurrent visits to rabbit-warrens and 

 carry off the young rabbits in the dusk of the evening and at dawn 

 of day. Under such exceptional circumstances the bird so offend- 

 ing must be shot, otherwise the depredations will be continued 

 indefinitely, and probably lead to others of the same ilk contract- 

 ing similar habits the taking of food easiest procured. But 

 owls, as a rule, feed mostly upon the four-footed and two-legged 

 denizens of the woods, fields, and gardens classed as destructive 

 to the crops of the forester, farmer, and gardener. In 210 

 pellets of the Tawny Owl, which bears the worst character 

 for poaching, Dr. Altum found the remains of i stoat, 

 371 mice, 40 moles, 18 small birds, and many beetles. 

 With this record justification is given for the insistence on owls 

 being unmolested, even by the game -preserver and the poultry- 

 farmer, who should remember that the owls in this connex- 

 ion are night-birds, and when they are abroad the young 

 birds, game and poutry, should be safe under the hen, also that 

 for an occasional taking of a young pheasant, rabbit, or chicken, 

 the immense destruction of mice, etc., more than counterbalance. 



CARRION CROW. This cunning bird is one of the greatest ene- 

 mies the gamekeeper and poultry rearer has. It is not easily dis- 

 tinguished from the rook, although differing in its flight and habits, 

 and also lacks the light beak and white colour on the face of the rook. 

 Carrion crows are generally found in pairs, though sometimes a 

 flock of four or six are seen together. They pair in March, and in 

 the early mornings especially must be carefully watched, for nothing 

 in the way of eggs and young birds comes amiss to them. To trap 

 them, a stale pheasant, or partridge, or hen-egg, according to place 

 of depredation, or, better still, two or three eggs, will prove the best 

 bait ; pieces of high meat, rabbit paunch, or a small rabbit paunched 

 and split in half are also attractive. The traps, same as those used 

 for wood -pigeons, should be set round the bait, or in front; two or 

 three traps if the bait is placed on a hedge near favourite haunts 



