134 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



sentence in the book above quoted would seem to 

 indicate that the author had been nodding. He says 

 he does not doubt that if any young chick or pheasant 

 " comes in the way, the owl will pounce on it and enjoy 

 it mightily. But," adds Sir Herbert, " young chicks 

 are not, or ought not to be, abroad in the night, which 

 is the only time that most kinds of owls can hunt." 

 It is exceedingly unfortunate that distinguished authors 

 should record their opinions instead of their observa- 

 tions. I have no desire to dogmatise on this subject, 

 but have again and again watched tawny owls at 

 the nest, as well as taken them from the nest and 

 placed them in a box, when from a window I could 

 observe what the parent birds brought to them for 

 food. They usually commenced to carry food to the 

 young between three and four in the afternoon. I 

 therefore exhort all young keepers to do the same 

 to watch and carefully note the victims of the owl, and 

 so explode the theories of mere litterateurs. It will be 

 no use the young keeper doing this for one season only, 

 as the abundance or scarcity of mice depends largely 

 on climatic influences, and when mice are plentiful there 

 is no doubt that large numbers are devoured by owls. 

 The results of my observations as to the food of owls 

 compel me to include the following : young hares, 

 young rabbits, bats, young pigeons both wild and tame, 

 ducklings, thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows, and all the 

 smaller birds, moths and beetles. It is right also to 

 mention that in some seasons a very large number of 



