66 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



mown grass in the paddock away from the house, 

 the kestrel would not have spied them out, running 

 to and fro, as he fanned over his mouse-hunting. 

 The sight rouses his hunting instincts at once, and 

 they are too strong to be held in check, choice 

 Dorking chicks though these be. And if he is seen 

 in the act it is enough to doom him and all his race 

 for years to come ; one chick that might never have 

 attained maturity weighs down the balance of slain 

 field-mice in hundreds. 



There is one thing to be said, if one of the rap- 

 tores gets killed another takes up his beat very 

 quickly ; so that in spite of himself the farmer has 

 his winged mouse-hunter over his fields as usual. 

 We have yet much to learn about bird-life. 



To the owls the farmer's feathered cats we might 

 call them after all, we give the palm for usefulness 

 and intelligence, although we have purposely put 

 them last on our list. Without them all his efforts 

 might be useless, for they prey on those creatures 

 that work him harm in the night-time. Besides 

 what they kill and eat on the spot, or take to their 

 young, they set by a store for some future time. By 

 watching any pair that have settled on some farm, 



