OWLS AND HAWKS 105 



for his oldest things and his scorn of appearances. 

 His old breeches and gaiters become part of himself. 

 A keeper who always donned trousers on Sunday 

 invariably wore the old gaiters beneath them so that 

 his legs might feel properly encased. 



- - - 



Small birds, like men, misunderstand the owl 

 and it is always a curious sight to watch the 

 Owls mobbing of a night-bird by other smaller 

 Hawks birds. Presumably the angered birds mistake 

 the owl for a hawk. At any rate, they know 

 him for a stranger, and no proven friend. When 

 the swallows are alarmed by the appearance of an 

 owl in day-time, they perform wonderful feats of 

 flight, as they dart at the great bird from every angle, 

 and swerve about him in every degree of curve. We 

 have counted fourteen swallows' nests built in a shed 

 against a pigeon loft wherein a pair of barn-owls 

 were rearing their three young ones ; we wondered 

 how far the swallows were aware of the owls' presence, 

 and what they thought about it. If they mobbed a 

 parent owl by day there could be little real cause 

 for their wrath as little as when a missel-thrush or a 

 jay joins in the outcry raised in the wood against the 

 brown owl. 



Enlightened keepers leave all hawks unmolested, 

 except perhaps on the rare occasions when they 

 catch one in the act of gamecide. Beyond question, 

 hawks as a rule do far more good to game interests 



