1 907-1908.] British Birds of Prey. 29 



heather like grouse, and laying as many as ten and twelve 

 eggs. While studying these birds in Ettrick Eorest, I took 

 a couple of young ones home in my pocket for the purpose of 

 finding out as much as possible about their habits. It has 

 been demonstrated beyond all doubt that in whatever part of 

 the world a plague of mice appears, short-eared owls, impelled 

 by a powerful instinct, are sure to follow and devour them. 

 How they make the discovery is one of those mysteries in 

 nature upon which we can only speculate. Capital was made 

 out of the mice plague by farmers, on the ground that the 

 destruction of pasture by the mice was traceable to the 

 destruction of hawks, owls, &c., by gamekeepers, in the 

 interests of game-preservation. Unfortunately for the advo- 

 cates of this theory, mice plagues had appeared in different 

 parts of the country centuries before game-preservation was 

 ever thought of, and, strange to say, they were followed and 

 devoured by short-eared owls. Perhaps the earliest record 

 we have of the mice plague is found in 1st Samuel, chap, vi., 

 where it is stated that the Philistines " made golden images 

 of the mice that mar the land." Sir Herbert Maxwell, in a 

 letter to * The Scotsman ' at the time of the Border outbreak, 

 stated that short-eared owls " are perfectly harmless to game." 

 From their savage nature, I had grave doubts about this, and 

 more especially as I had read the opinions of recognised 

 authorities on the subject. Mr St John, in his well-known 

 book, ' Wild Sports of the Highlands,' says, " I saw a short- 

 eared owl hunting a rushy field and regularly beating it for 

 prey at mid-day. . . . He put up and made a dash at a 

 snipe, but did not follow up his pursuit, probably perceiving 

 that it would be useless." The short-eared owl frequently 

 breeds in the Orkney Islands. Mr Low, in his * Fauna 

 Orcadensis,' refers to it as " breeding in the hills of Hoy, 

 where it builds its nest among the heath." " It is there," he 

 adds, " of great boldness, and has been seen to chase pigeons 

 in the open day. In a nest containing young I found the 

 remains of moor-fowl and two plovers, besides the feet of 

 several others." In view of these statements, I resolved to 

 make some experiments. Having my two short-eared pets in 

 an aviary, I introduced beside them a live pigeon, a partridge, 

 and a missel-thrush. Watching unseen, the owls sat quiet 



