236 Poachers and Poaching. 



stroyed even by them or with their authority. It 

 was a wise step that granted this double pro- 

 tection, for of all birds, from the farmers' stand- 

 point, owls are the most useful. These birds 

 hunt silently and in the night, and are nothing 

 short of lynx-eyed cats with wings. The benefit 

 they confer upon agriculturists is most incal- 

 culable, which is susceptible of proof. 



It is well known that owls hunt by night, but 

 it may be less a matter of common knowledge 

 that, like other birds of prey, they return by the 

 mouth the hard indigestible parts of their food 

 in the form of elongated pellets. These are 

 found in considerable quantities about the birds' 

 haunts, and an examination of them reveals the 

 fact that owls prey upon a number of predacious 

 creatures the destruction of which is directly 

 beneficial to man. Of course, the evidence 

 gained in this way is infallible, and to show to 

 what extent owls assist in preserving the balance 

 of nature, it maybe mentioned that seven hundred 

 pellets examined yielded the remains of sixteen 

 bats, three rats, two hundred and thirty-seven 

 mice, six hundred and ninety-three voles, one 

 thousand five hundred and ninety shrews, and 

 twenty-two birds. These truly remarkable results 

 were obtained from the common barn- owl, and 

 the remains of the twentv-two birds consisted 



J 



of nineteen sparrows, one greenfinch, and two 

 swifts. The tawny and long-eared owls of our 



