JUNE 147 



Tengmalm's owl, and the little owl, all infrequent visitors 

 to these islands, are all much about the same size, the 

 Scops owl, indeed, being slightly smaller than the little 

 owl. Further than to point out the inadequacy of a 

 living and changing language for precise nomenclature, 

 it is better not to go in dealing with this group of birds ; 

 for, in fact, the classification of owls is still in a terrible 

 jumble, and ornithologists have come to no sort of agree- 

 ment as to how they are to be named. Externally re- 

 sembling the hawks, they possess certain anatomical 

 peculiarities which have been held to justify the removal 

 of all of them from the ordinary diurnal birds of prey 

 to a separate and superior order or sub-order. 



One gratifying fact has to be recorded about owls as 

 a group namely, the greater intelligence with which they 

 are regarded, both by people in general, and by sportsmen 

 and gamekeepers in particular. I was brought up to 

 detest them collectively as one of the most pernicious 

 kinds of vermin. On wakeful nights I sometimes fancy 

 that the ghosts of innocent suspects, slaughtered by me 

 in ignorance, are perched on the bed-rail the tawny owl 

 and the barn owl blinking reproachfully with their great 

 blue-black eyes ; the yellow irises of the short-eared owl 

 flaming vengefully; and the orange orbs of the solemn 

 long-eared owl inquiring wistfully how I could be so 

 insane as to murder some of the most industrious servants 

 of mankind. We all know better now, and recognise the 

 benefit that owls confer upon us by preying indefatigably 

 upon rats and mice. That is their staple diet, though it 

 is varied to a slight extent by small birds and large 

 beetles. Nevertheless the charge continues to be made 

 against owls in general that they kill young game, 



