34 On the priceless value of the Live Bird.



around, and occasionally not too much food ; and the mice are often

put to it to find meals for themselves without serving themselves up

as meals for the cats ; but set up an aviary, and there you have a

paradise for the mice straight away. Outside, the cats may prowl

and hunger and gnash their teeth, but— Inside ! ! ! Canary, and

millet, and other delights and toothsome delicacies, even an occa¬

sional dish of bird’s head—and not a ghost of a cat to disturb the

digestion or the sweet harmony of the place. In the aviary, mice

may squeak and grow fat without a care in the world, for as for man

and his traps — 2vis-s-s-sh —poor feeble creature.


Years ago, I had hawks and owls — but no mice. Times

changed ; the hawks and owls took their departure — and I had

mice. Generation after generation of mice came and went until,

by inherited instinct, they knew every kind of trick and trap as

soon as they could run ; as for poisons and steel traps—they

scratched and covered them up inches deep with earth. Virus they

ignored : why should they eat such poor fare ? A learned chemist,

in his wisdom, said, “ Oh, they want feeding up to it ; now I should


begin with a little toasted cheese - .” Fiddlesticks; they were


not such gudgeons!


Then came a thought:—“ Phillipps, old man, you have never

kept the Burrowing Owl ” ; and a pair were obtained as soon as

might be. For a part of the year, the Owls were shut up by day

and the other birds loosed ; in the evening, the birds generally were

driven into and shut up in the birdroom and the Owls set free.

From the nature of things, this arrangement was inconvenient and

unsatisfactory, and had to be modified from time to time ; neverthe¬

less, it disposed of the mice in my aviary so completely for the time

being that I was thankful when anyone made me a present of a

mouse for the Owls’ dinner. And this notwithstanding that the

Burrowing Owl is a poor mouser compared with most of our splendid

British species, in whom the nation has a veritable treasure, some

indeed killing rats as well as mice. In short, while boastful man

could not do more than keep down the mice, the Owls could and

did exterminate them. v



* My Burrowing Owls and their young were incidentally referred to in the

New Series of the Avicultural Magazine —at p. 388 of Vol. I. and at p. 39 of



