VERMIN AND TRAPPING 105 
if necessary, so as not to catch the pheasants. 
When I saw my assistant’s face beaming with 
triumph, I asked him how many stoats had been 
caught. Hereplied: ‘Ne’eraone; but we've bin an’ 
ketch’d the dev’! ’—who turned out to be a long-eared 
owl. And no more pheasants were decapitated. 
The brown owl also is not above attacking young 
pheasants, and at night will knock them out of the 
trees. Whichever of the two owls tries a diet 
of pheasant, it is likely to continue its depredations, 
though it has the decency, as a rule, to kill only 
one bird a night. While owls may kill only a few 
birds themselves, the chief charge against them is 
that they drive many from their perch, to spend 
the rest of the night on the ground at the mercy 
of foxes, and any vermin on the prowl. And seeing 
that the keeper sets great store on the night when 
all his birds ‘go to tree, his wrath when they are 
frightened from their perches is excusable. Still, 
it is well for the keeper, when he sees an owl of the 
criminally inclined sort, to stay his hand, and to 
reflect that sufficient unto the night is the evil 
thereof. 
Reviewing the vermin question as a whole—that 
is, first, What vermin prey largely on game? and, 
second, What creatures prey on it only occasionally ? 
—-J admit that there is much room for improvement 
in the attitude of keepers. However, I am certain 
that since education means enlightenment, and 
