78 WOODLANDERS AND FIELD FOLK 



pellets shows equally interesting evidence. The barn 

 owl is the " screech " owl of bird literature, the brown 

 owl of the pine- woods the true " hooting " owl. 

 It must be remembered in connection with the 

 quarry of both species that Britain is essentially an 

 agricultural country; and that if its fauna is a 

 diminutive one, it is not the less formidable. We 

 have ten tiny creatures, constituting an army in 

 themselves, that, if not kept under, would quickly 

 devastate our fields. These ten species consist of 

 four mice, three voles, and three shrews individu- 

 ally so tiny, that any one species could comfortably 

 curl itself up in the divided shell of a chestnut. 

 But farmers well know that if these are small they 

 are by no means to be despised. When the corn 

 crops are cut, and the hay housed, the field-vole 

 and the meadow-mouse are deprived of their summer 

 shelter. Of this the barn owl is perfectly aware, and 

 at evening may be seen sweeping low over the 

 meadows, seeking what it may capture with what 

 results we have already seen. 



The barn owl, when she comes abroad, is only the 

 precursor of new life life as animate under the 

 night, as that of the birds and butterflies under the 

 day. Let us follow the path by the river, and on 

 through the meadows. Among the nut-bush tops 

 a bat is hawking for night-flying insects. Great 

 white moths get up from the grass and go looming 



