VERMIN AND TRAPPING 105 



if necessary, so as not to catch the pheasants. 

 When I saw my assistant's face beaming with 

 triumph, I asked him how many stoats had been 

 caught. He replied : * Ne'er a one; but we've bin an' 

 ketch'd the dev'l ' who turned out to be a long-eared 

 owl. And no more pheasants were decapitated. 



The brown owl also is not above attacking young 

 pheasants, and at night will knock them out of the 

 trees. Whichever of the two owls tries a diet 

 of pheasant, it is likely to continue its depredations, 

 though it has the decency, as a rule, to kill only 

 one bird a night. While owls may kill only a few 

 birds themselves, the chief charge against them is 

 that they drive many from their perch, to spend 

 the rest of the night on the ground at the mercy 

 of foxes, and any vermin on the prowl. And seeing 

 that the keeper sets great store on the night when 

 all his birds ' go to tree/ his wrath when they are 

 frightened from their perches is excusable. Still, 

 it is well for the keeper, when he sees an owl of the 

 criminally inclined sort, to stay his hand, and to 

 reflect that sufficient unto the night is the evil 

 thereof. 



Reviewing the vermin question as a whole that 

 is, first, What vermin prey largely on game ? and, 

 second, What creatures prey on it only occasionally ? 

 I admit that there is much room for improvement 

 in the attitude of keepers. However, I am certain 

 that since education means enlightenment, and 



