CHAPTER XLV 



Animal Helpers (continued) 



It is among birds that our most active helpers 

 are found. The owls, those nocturnal birds of 

 prey, hunt in the fields the field mice, those 

 formidable devourers of our crops ; they also 

 watch for the rats and mice in our barns. 

 They are feathered cats, having all the good 

 points of the domestic cat without its faults ; 

 fierce destroyers of the small furry races, of 

 which the mouse is the most familiar example. 

 They are birds of night, hidden during the 

 day in some dark retreat, which they only 

 leave in the evening to hunt in the twilight or 

 by the light of the moon. Their large, widely 

 opened eyes allow them to see distinctly in a 

 very poor light. 



We will follow the bird in its nocturnal 

 excursion. It skims over the barren plain, 

 the ploughed fields and the meadows. It 

 inspects the furrows and the grassy lawns 

 that are the haunt of the field mouse, and the 



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