74 OWLS 



owl's feathers which suggest so much that is 

 thoughtless or selfish in a woman, a practice 

 that was, no doubt, the origin and the justifica- 

 tion, such as it was, of the advertisement seen, 

 not long ago, by Mr Ward Fowler in a public- 

 house : 



" Wanted at once by a London Firm, 

 1000 owls," 



be anathema as well. The number of owls in the 

 country has been terribly diminished. Let them be 

 encouraged and protected in every way possible. 

 Let the gamekeeper be rewarded as I have rewarded 

 him myself, with some success, not for the owls that 

 he destroys, but for the owls that he preserves. 

 From the nature of the case, their number can 

 never be very large. Let the owl be regarded and 

 protected in England, as the stork is regarded and 

 protected in Holland and other countries on the 

 Continent. All parishes have once had many 

 parishes have still, and all may have again, if people 

 will only be wise in time one or more "owl trees," 

 or owl barns, or owl belfries, which should be 

 regarded, in the truest sense of the word, as " owl 

 sanctuaries," where these fascinating and venerable 

 benefactors of humanity may live inviolate from 

 generation to generation, 



