40 EGYPTIAN BIRDS 
always kept shut in the coop, the little puff-balls 
of pheasants, as they are in those early days, 
run in and out between the bars, and once 
outside are, of course, without protection. The 
Owl has noticed this fact, and it may be seen 
sitting on the top of the coop watching till one 
of the little birds is conveniently near, and down 
it swoops and carries it away for its own family’s 
dinner ; this it will repeat time after time till it 
has cleared off the whole lot. This can only 
happen, of course, when the young pheasants are 
very very small—a few days old—and hand-reared, 
for if they were out and about with their own 
mother—or in the case of partridges their own 
father—they would be safe, as neither would allow 
such an impudent attack to be made without 
going for the murderous marauder. It has only 
been after years and years of persistent effort that 
gamekeepers have been induced to learn that all 
ordinary owls flying at night-time—when all young 
birds are safe under their mothers’ wings—are 
harmless, and that from the good they do in 
clearing off hundreds of mice and young rats, 
should be, and must be, protected. They are 
now protected; but this newcomer arrives — 
not an ordinary night owl at all—and the whole 
