A FEATHERED WASTER 



No bird-lovers can but desire the destruc- 

 tion of the Little Owl {Athene Noctua), a 

 prolific bird introduced into England half 

 a century ago by Lord Lilford. It has no 

 redeeming trait. I have watched several 

 pairs, and my observations show without 

 doubt that he is not worth his salt, and 

 deserves not the slightest mercy. 



Old Bob, a keeper with whom I am very 

 friendly, showed me a pollard oak standing 

 at the side of a hazel covert, which he 

 suspected as the home of a pair of these 

 birds. I sat down in the dry ditch and 

 waited, while the humble bees swung 

 themselves among the flowering nettles. 

 This was in the early afternoon, and not 

 in the evening or the night; in the bright 

 sunlight, when all self-respecting owls are 

 dreaming in barn-loft or hollow tree. But 



