OWLS TO THE RESCUE 51 



covered the whereabouts of their enemies, nobody 

 quite knew how, appeared, nobody quite knew 

 when, and came from regions, nobody quite knew 

 where. * 



A letter which I have received from Mr Colles 

 of Higher Broughton, Manchester, illustrates further 

 some of the traits in the short-eared owl of which 

 I have spoken. "You speak," he says, "of the 

 occasional activity of this owl by day ; and I venture 

 to give you an experience of my own in Scotland. 

 You will remember that, a few years ago, certain 

 parts of the country were infested with voles to such 

 an extent, that the sheep would not eat the grass 

 over thousands of acres of moorland. It was some 

 two years after they had been at their worst, that 

 my son and I were fishing in St Mary's Loch ; and, 

 one day about noon, while I was crouching down 

 between the high banks of the Meggett, to keep out 

 of sight of the fish, a short-eared owl skimmed, over 

 the top of the bank, directly to the place where I 

 was ; and I can assure you that no exaggerated comic 

 picture of an owl I had ever seen, affected me as 

 did this one. Its eyes looked to me as large as 



* See the Blue-Book of 1893 containing the Report of the 

 Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the Plague 

 of Field Voles in Scotland. 



