once disturbed, 
refuge in the 
from which it , 
indeed to dis- 7 
Small birds 
caught and 
however, it takes 
A nearest thicket, 
S is very difficult 
lodge it. 
are occasionally 
devoured by this 
owl; but the gamekeeper has no quarrel with it, as it never 
seems to carry off partridges or young rabbits, while the 
farmer has every reason to regard it as one of his feathered 
friends. Here is its dietary for the year, as given by M. Prevost 
Paradol. 
January, mice; February, harvest mice; March, mice ; 
April, mice and crickets; May, shrews, mice and cock- 
chafers ; June, beetles ; July, field mice and birds ; August, 
field mice and shrews ; September and October, field mice 
and beetles ; November, mice ; December, mice, spiders and 
woodlice. 
Led by some mysterious instinct, this bird seems to 
know where its favourite victims will be plentiful, and often 
eappears in nuinbers just where 
its presence is most needed. In 
1892, for example, during the 
great vole-plague in Scotland, 
Short-eared Owls came to the 
rescue, no less than four hun- 
dred of their nests being found 
14 
