258 TOUR IN SUTH ERL ANDSHIRE. 



inspection of the numerous and beautifully-prepared speci- 

 mens of my friend Mr. Hancock, who, I believe, I may safely 

 assert is the best stuffer of birds in the kingdom. The 

 examination of his collection has been a source of great 

 pleasure to me, but it has also had the effect of making me 

 dissatisfied with the performances of all other preservers of 

 birds. A bird, when it is stuffed and " set up," as they term 

 it, ought to be " aut Caesar aut nihil." A bird stuffed in a 

 second-rate manner is a very valueless and unsatisfactory 

 affair; and it would be far better, for the furtherance of 

 natural history, if people, instead of having a rare bird badly 

 stuffed and put into a distorted shape and attitude, with projec- 

 tions where no projections should be, and hollows where there 

 should be none, would be content to keep merely the skin just 

 sufficiently filled with cotton or tow to prevent its shrinking. 



The owls have all extremely hard and needle-like claws, 

 and in every respect the bird is singularly well adapted for 

 its manner of feeding, which it does almost wholly at night. 

 Its immensely large ears must enable it to hear the slightest 

 movement of the field-mouse, upon which it chiefly feeds ; 

 and its sharply-pointed talons contract with a tenacity and 

 closeness unequalled by those of any of the hawk tribe, 

 excepting perhaps the hen-harrier. Again, the soft downy 

 feathers and rounded wings of the owl enable it to flit as 

 noiselessly as a shadow to and fro, as it searches for the 

 quick-eared mouse, whom the least sound would at once 

 startle and drive into its hole, out of reach of its deadly 

 enemy. As it is, the mouse feeds on in heedless security, 

 with eyes and nose busily occupied in searching for grains of 

 corn or seeds, and depending on its quickly sensitive ear to 

 warn it of the approach of any danger. The foot of man, or 

 even the tread of dog or cat, it is sure to hear ; but the owl 

 glides quickly and silently round the corner of the hedge or 

 stack (like Death, tacito clam venit ilia pede), and the first 

 intimation which the mouse has of its danger is being 

 clasped in the talons of its devourer. 



The owls of this country are far more serviceable to us than 

 we imagine, destroying countless mice and rats. It must be 

 admitted, however, that both the long-eared owl and the 

 common brown owl will, during the time they have young 

 ones to feed, destroy and carry off pigeons, young game, and 

 other birds with a determined savageness equal to that 

 evinced by any of the hawk tribe. 



