450 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
birds swallow their prey whole if small enough, or in lumps—fur, bones, 
feathers, everything together ; and that after the flesh and nutritious juices 
have passed into the system, the indigestible bones, é&c., are disgorged in 
masses usually known as “ pellets.” In Northamptonshire they are termed 
“quids,” in Staffordshire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire “ cuds,” in Cambridge- 
shire “ plugs,” and in Lancashire and Cheshire they sometimes go by the 
suggestive name “ boggart muck.” This curious term doubtless originated 
from the fact that pellets are sometimes found in church towers and 
churchyards, and the mysterious hootings and screechings heard at night 
in these places give colour to the notion that “ boggarts” (ghosts) are. 
engaged upon their unhallowed feast! 
These pellets contain, as stated, the bones of the animals preyed upon, 
usually in an almost perfect condition, the little skulls being perfectly easy 
to identify by a competent osteologist. It is still less generally known 
that many other birds eject similar pellets, e. g. the Swallow tribe, Herons, 
Gulls (and probably most sea-birds), Flycatchers, and Rooks. Rooks’ 
pellets, by the way, may be found beneath the nests while the young are 
being fed, and never, I think, at other times, and I fancy they are com- 
posed of the indigestible portions of the food which the parent Rooks 
prepare for their young in a way similar to that peculiar to Pigeons. 
I have carefully analysed and kept a record of many hundreds of Owls’ 
pellets from or close to estates where game is reared, and from many parts 
of England and Ireland, at the time of year when Pheasants and Partridges 
are young and least able to take care of themselves; and I can positively 
assert that tm no case have I ever found the remains of any game bird, 
chicken, or duckling. I once mentioned my experience to the late Lord 
Lilford, and that great authority informed me that his experience entirely 
tallied with mine. 
It is impossible for us with due regard to our space to give the whole 
of Mr. Adams’s statistics; the following are examples :— 
If not molested, Owls will take up their abode near a farm and keep 
the Rats and Mice under much more effectively and cheaply than a 
professional Rat-catcher. Only last spring, close to a Derbyshire farm, I 
found within a fortnight fresh pellets containing:—Brown Rats, 62 ; 
Long-tailed Field Mice, 88; Common Shrews, 16; Short-tailed Field 
Mice, 5; Bank Voles, 10; Water Voles, 2; Frogs, 6; Toads, 2; Beetles, 
several: total, 141. And all this was due to (I think) a single pair of. 
Long-eared Owls. 
The first two of the following analyses are from pellets in old deserted 
Pigeon cotes in farm buildings near Stafford. In both cases the farmers 
protected and encouraged the birds. The third is from a nest in a hollow 
oak in Rockingham Park, Northants :— 
