104 ANIMALS AND INSECTS 



through the air on his wings. The wings of birds 

 usually make a noise; but the owl's wings are covered 

 with the softest and thickest of feathers and the air 

 that would make a noise striking against the hard 

 wing of the crow goes softly in among these thick, 

 downy feathers. So the owl can swoop noiselessly 

 down upon the out-of-door mouse nibbling the farm- 

 er's grain, as the cat steals noiselessly upon the in- 

 door mouse nibbling in the pantry. Both can see 

 their prey and catch it quickly. 



Besides catching mice and moles, the owls eat many 

 insects. They seem very fond of cut-worms, those 

 destructive cut-worms that live under the roots of 

 plants and come up during the night and cut the 

 whole plant off at the surface of the ground. 



Isn't that a mischievous thing for these cut-worms 

 to do? They are most apt to cut tomato plants, 

 squashes and cucumbers. They do not even eat up 

 what they destroy, but only nibble off the stalks of 

 the young plants. Then on they go to others, leaving 

 those cut to wilt and die. It is fortunate for us that 

 owls will eat the cut-worms, for we find it very hard 

 to catch them. They hide away during the day in 

 burrows where we might not find them, and of 

 course we could not spend the time going about all 

 night with a lantern just to catch and to kill those 

 mischievous little cut- worms. 



The owls attend to that. They are great friends 

 of the farmer. If the farmer had been more friendly 

 to the owl, there would be many more of them than 

 there are, and fewer cut-worms to injure his crops. 



When the farmer ignorantly shoots the owls, then 



