16 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



in "The Zoologist" (p. 8818) says, he has taken 

 some pains to inquire from good authorities whether 

 they ever saw this species perching, and he has 

 invariably been answered in the negative. In all 

 the examples that have come under my notice, the 

 birds were shot in the open country, and not from 

 trees. It is well known that the Short-eared Owl 

 is more diurnal in its habits than any other of the 

 genus ; that it seeks its food by day in the open 

 meadows and among coarse herbage, and is thus 

 more frequently found by sportsmen upon the 

 ground ; but I think it not unlikely that it retires 

 to a tree to roost at night. 



The food of the Short- eared Owl consists of small 

 birds and field-mice, particularly the latter ; and I 

 have often thought it a wonderful provision of nature 

 that, just at the time when the ground is cleared of 

 crops, and the field-mice are more easily seen and 

 captured, the Short-eared Owl arrives to thin their 

 numbers. 



When we reflect on the great amount of devasta- 

 tion which is occasionally committed by mice, we 

 cannot but consider the Owls as our best friends ; 

 and overlooking the small and unfrequent loss 

 of a young rabbit or partridge, we should cer- 

 tainly extend [to them protection and encourage- 

 ment. 



BARN or WHITE OWL, Strix flammea. This Owl, 

 the commonest of our Strigidce, breeds under the 



