IN THE WEALD 89 
buildings are peculiarly adapted to all their require- 
ments. A bell-turret or old pigeon-cote would be 
' onnateral ' without its owls. The houses have their 
own special pair of these birds, that usually sit in the 
daytime in one of the lumber-rooms at the top of the 
house, snoring and waking up, looking at each other 
with one eye, to go to sleep again and snore. 
I have never seen pole-traps set here to capture 
the beautiful mouse-hunters. I hope that this may 
never happen, though, as land even here has changed 
owners, there is no saying what innovations may be 
made. It is a pitiful sight to see one of these feathered 
benefactors sitting with half-closed eyes, held by its 
legs in a pole-trap. It makes one feel just for the 
moment a strong inclination to hit out at some one, 
and I have at different times given my opinion pretty 
freely on the subject to those who ought to have 
known better. 
All those who live in the woods and fields that 
is, who get their living there know very well what 
creature or creatures do mischief. They will tell you 
that rats and mice do most, and that owls make short 
work with these. They begin to hunt before the sun 
sets. You can tell the farms they come from, just off 
the roads. One pair of owls will not poach on the 
hunting-grounds of others ; each farm has its own 
