2o8 BIRDS 



sucli a speed, the bird could steer clear of the 

 many obstacles in its way. 



You may well imagine my pent-up excitement 

 all this time, and how eagerly I watched the fine 

 sight which met my gaze. The trees were as yet 

 leafless, and it was one of those beautiful Spring 

 mornings with which we in England are so 

 familiar. Thus it was quite easy to follow the 

 Owl as it sped on its way through the wood, until 

 at last it reached the outside boundary, which 

 was bordered by a wide open meadow. 



Without hesitating, the bird dived from the 

 wood and rushed across the green meadow at a 

 height of some forty feet in the air until my eyes 

 could follow it no longer, and it eventually dis- 

 appeared into a strip of woodland on another 

 part of the estate. Incidents such as these, 

 cropping up so unexpectedly, go to make the 

 study of bird life of the woodland, field, country 

 lane, or elsewhere delightful and captivating; 

 whilst if, as on the aforesaid occasion, there 

 is a human interpretation as well, interest is 

 redoubled and a good moral the result. 



Owls generally are rightly entitled to the char- 

 acter of feathered police, for they are to be con- 

 sidered among the chief benefactors we possess in 

 keeping down Rats, Mice, small Birds, Moles, 

 Shrews, Insects, Rabbits, and other animals. 



They have enormous appetites, and I have 



