128 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



nature, dependent on man, if he takes to feeding 

 it in its haunts. The things will come for food, 

 most surely, for it saves them the trouble of search- 

 ing for it. Sometimes I have missed hedgerow 

 birds on my rambles by the sides of coverts, and 

 could give a good guess that they had got to spots 

 not far from where the pheasants were fed. 



The brown owl, long-eared owl, and the short- 

 eared owl are found on the estate I am describing. 

 Before the present owner had this, the owls were 

 knocked over in the most merciless manner ; so 

 all the young covert stuff that had been planted 

 on the bare portions of the hill was killed by the 

 mice eating the tender bark of the young trees. 

 Everything, in fact, had gone wrong together, 

 a state of complete ignorant muddle it was. But 

 matters are all right there again now, and the 

 plantations are woods, making the best and warm- 

 est of covers for all things. 



Then there is the woodcock-owl, marsh-owl, or, 

 as he is known in the woodlands, the short-eared 

 owl. Although you will certainly find him in the 

 bents on the sand-downs, the dry flags and rush 

 clumps of the marshes also, he does not confine 



