198 Birds I Have Kept. 



necessarily limited, and the mice have grown so cunning that 

 they can he hut very rarely caught. I apprehend therefore 

 that I shall have to get rid of Master Coquimbo in the end; 

 I shall be sorry, very sorry to have to do so, but on the other 

 hand I cannot see the poor fellow slowly starve. If only I 

 could catch more mice! there are plenty of them about, but 

 they soon get to know all about the various kinds of traps, 

 and will not go near them. Can anyone suggest a snare that 

 will not frighten them away, one that wUl kill as weU as 

 catch them? I have tried many kinds, but after a few days 

 they become useless, for the mice refuse to be tempted into 

 Ihem by the most enticing bait. 



Without a doubt my Prairie Owl is "an amoosin little cuss", 

 but I shall .have, sooner or later, to get rid of him I fear. 

 He starves on butcher's meat and the various delicacies I have 

 enumerated; mice appear to be his favourite food, and he pre- 

 fers them young and tender: birds he" will eat, if not too 

 tough, as he did two JBudgerigars the other day, but these are 

 not always to be obtained, and to buy them specially for his 

 table would involve me i^ greater expense than I care to 

 incur for his sake. 



Since writing the above, I have heard my Prairie Owl give 

 utterance to a sound that may be described as "a short sharp 

 bark" — it is not unlike the 'infpatient yelping of a young 

 puppyi Sid is emitted, I find, when the bird is hungry: I 

 have not noticed it at any 'other time, but invariably when 

 he ' has barked, I have found that all his provisions were 

 consumed, and that like Oliver he was "asking for more." 

 The question here arises, when the Prairie Owl in his wild 

 state utters this "short sharp bark" is he hungry? and, if 

 so, to whom does he address his appeal for food? 



THE END. 



B. FAWCBTT, ESSBATEll AND PBINTEB, DBIFFIKLD. 



