CH. VIII. BIRDS. 123 



most and leafless bough of some ash or larch tree, 

 may be seen puffing out its neck and hooting loudly. 



19. The Snowy Owl is not unfrequently driven 

 over to the north and north-east coast after severe 

 gales from that quarter. 



20. A specimen of that beautiful little species 

 called Tengmalm's Owl was killed in May 1847, by 

 Mr. Dunbar, in an old ruined factory at Spinning- 

 dale, in Sutherlandshire. This and many other 

 foreign birds may be, and most probably frequently 

 are, driven over to the wild and solitary eastern 

 shores of the county without being seen or heard of. 



I must here put in a word for owls. They are 

 most unjustly and ruthlessly persecuted. Most 

 owls are not only harmless, but in fact they are of 

 infinite service to mankind. Hunting chiefly by 

 night, when almost all young birds are safe in their 

 roosting-places, the owls prey principally, if not en- 

 tirely, on mice and rats, which are then abroad in all 

 directions plundering the farmer's produce. Where 

 the owls have been much destroyed by pole-traps 

 and other means, mice and rats increase to the most 

 mischievous extent, not only destroying grain, but 

 also doing immense mischief in young plantations, 

 by barking and nibbling the shoots of the young 

 trees sometimes to an almost inconceivable extent. 



21. The Spotted Flycatcher is common enough. 



