100 OWLS 



were the results of the examination of 706 pelts of the 

 white or barn owl (Strix flammea or Aluco flammeus), 

 a species equally common as the last in this country. 

 These were found to contain the remains of 16 bats, 

 3 rats, 2520 mice, 1 mole, and 22 small birds. 



Now 706 pelts represent less than the product of 

 one pair of barn owls during a year. Does any one 

 in his senses mean to affirm that this pair of owls did 

 no important service to the farmer in devouring 2520 

 mice in that space of time ? 



' All right,' says the game preserver, ' we may consent 

 to respect those owls which hunt only by night, but 

 how about the woodcock owl, which may often be seen 

 hawking about the open moor by day ? Surely you 

 don't mean to tell me he is after no mischief ? ' 



Well, I happen to have had particular occasion to 

 study the habits of this bird, and I was forced to the 

 conclusion that, although the short-eared owl (Asio 

 brachyotis) is more diurnal in his habits than those 

 mentioned above, and therefore is more likely than 

 they to strike young game, his services to agriculture 

 are no whit inferior. His daylight excursions and 

 yellow iris have earned for him the name of the hawk 

 owl, while he is often known as the woodcock owl, 

 because in normal seasons the species is nearly entirely 

 absent from the British Isles during the breeding 

 season, and reappears as a migrant about the same 

 time as the woodcock. In 1891-92 the extensive sheep 

 pastures on the southern uplands of Scotland were 

 devastated by one of those plagues of voles (Arvicola 



