BIRDS OF PKET. 37 



them/' And again : " Some idea may be formed of the 

 number of mice destroyed by a pair of barn owls when 

 it is known that, in the short space of twenty minutes, 

 two old birds carried food to their young twelve times, 

 thus destroying at least forty mice every hour during 

 the time they continued hunting; and as young owls 

 remain long in the nest, many hundreds of mice must 

 be destroyed in the course of rearing them.' 



Montagu says, in writing of the tawny owl : " This 

 bird breeds in the hollowsjof trees, and sometimes^in 

 barns, which last it frequents for the sake of mice, and, 

 as it is a better mouser than the cat, the farmer holds it 

 in great estimation, and leaves a hole in his barns and 

 granary for its egress/' 



I am afraid that on this latter point the farmers now 

 are not so enlightened as in Montagu's day, or does the 

 fault rest with the builders ; I have often seen these 

 holes in the gables of old barns, but modern erections 

 are without them. Now the appearance of any species 

 of owl in a farmyard is merely the signal for the pro- 

 duction of the gun, and the instant execution of the 

 visitor. I fear this stupid prejudice or practice will 

 retain its sway until a desire to know something of the 

 habits of the various forms which we daily see around 

 us is more extensively diffused than at present, and 

 until the wanton love of destruction is exchanged for a 

 spirit of admiration and reverence for those works which 

 by their divine Creator were pronounced to be " very 

 good." 



Perhaps some reader may be inclined to think that, 

 in advocating the preservation of rapacious birds, I have 

 exaggerated the amount of mischief caused by mice, 

 cockchafers, &c., and that the money value of their de- 



