394 THE OWLS 



OWLS 

 [W. P. PYCRAFT] 



Among our native birds few have been so greatly maligned, so 

 hopelessly misunderstood and misrepresented, as the owls, and this, 

 no doubt, largely because of their nocturnal habits, and the strange, 

 unearthly noises to which some give vent. By our forefathers, who 

 lived in an atmosphere saturated with superstition, the owls were 

 reviled as birds of ill omen, portending death and lesser evils ; to-day, 

 in an age which prides itself in its " strong common sense," they fare 

 scarcely better. They no longer inspire fear, but hatred reigns in its 

 stead, and this because it is believed that these birds are the enemies 

 of "game." The game-preserver and the gamekeeper are their most 

 relentless enemies, though happily there are signs of enlightenment 

 on the part of both, which is well for all concerned. Were the owls 

 afforded the protection they deserve, rat and vole plagues would be 

 unheard of. In the United States the value of the owl was long ago 

 realised. Recently Mr. C. W. Beebe, of the New York Zoological 

 Society, remarked, " Only in the last few years, when our grain crops 

 reach from ocean to ocean, and the devastations of hordes of mice have 

 touched one of the deepest chords of man's nature his purse is the 

 owl getting due credit for his value and economic importance. If every 

 owl on our continent was suddenly swept out of existence, it is doubt- 

 ful if, after a few years, a single crop of grain would be reared success- 

 fully. It would take the mice and other rodents, and many injurious 

 insects, but little time to confine all their ravages to the hours of 

 darkness. Hawks would, in such an event, become useless to man, 

 and though weasels and minks might increase prodigiously, yet, 

 without the deadly swoop of the owl, the mice would soon overrun 

 the land." 



By the systematist the owls have been no less misunderstood, 



