114 Owls. 



better, is a most inveterate poacher yielded 1 

 stoat, 6 rats, 371 mice, voles, and shrews, 48 

 moles, and 18 small birds, to say nothing of 

 beetles and cockchafers ; and we are quite sure 

 that anyone trying the same experiment as Dr. 

 Altum will arrive at the same results. 



Naturalists have from time immemorial done 

 their best for the owl by describing it in its true 

 character as a mouser and a friend to the farmer, 

 and it is therefore extraordinary that in these 

 days of universal education the usefulness of the 

 owl should still remain as a lesson to be learnt 

 by those for whom it spends its existence in doing 

 good. 



Yet so it is, and the unfortunate birds are still 

 persistently destroyed. That the gamekeeper 

 should be an owl- slayer need, however, cause 

 little wonder to those who are acquainted with 

 him and his ways ; for we venture to say that 

 there are few people, with his opportunities, at 

 all events, who are so singularly ignorant of 

 natural history as the average gamekeeper. He 

 lives on tradition, and is hard to teach ; owls 

 were vermin to his forefathers, and this is suffi- 

 cient for him. He would rather not argue the 

 matter; vermin they are, and must, therefore, be 

 destroyed. Unfortunately he is often encouraged 

 in his senseless slaughter of these beautiful and 

 harmless birds by his employer, who, in many 

 cases, is more ignorant of everything connected 

 with natural history than himself, and is willing 



