218 
THE RAT. 
enable it to fly with such down-like silence, that even the 
quick ear of the mouse cannot hear it coming. This extreme 
silence, while flying, is caused by the formation and tex- 
ture of the feathers, which, unlike other birds, are very 
loose, and fringed at the ends, and completely prevent that 
rushing sound which accompanies the flight of most other 
birds. Here then do we And it framed by nature for 
gliding over the grounds and ricks at twilight in quest of 
mice to furnish food for itself and young, and not for bird- 
hunting in the bush. They may sit on the big branches of 
a tree, near to the trunk, or get in a large hole in the trunk 
itself ; but small birds seldom build or roost on or in either. 
As for chickens, they, like the majority of birds, are gone to 
roost long before the ow] comes out. But should he by 
accident take flight in the open day, he gets a most unmer- 
ciful mobbing for his trouble by all the birds in the district ; 
and what makes the matter worse for him, he cannot guard 
against his assailants, because he is too blind to see them ! 
Consequently his habit is to remain quietly in his hiding- 
place till evening comes, and the coast is clear. 
JSTevertheless I have seen the owl eat small birds, but 
that was in the bird-shops of London, where they had them 
thrust into small cages, and fed with dead linnets. Still we 
must bear in mind that they were not in a state of nature, 
but closely confined, and seldom got a meal except when a 
linnet died ; and that they often went a day or two without 
food ; consequently it became one of two things, either eat 
the linnet, or die of starvation. But if a boy chanced to 
bring them a dead mouse, that was a delicious morsel. 
Mr. Waterton tells us that he has often been glad to shoot 
a monkey for dinner ; and, to use his own words, he says that, 
"a grilled monkey is not to be sneezed at by a starving man." 
Then, again, the Times newspaper tells us that a British officer, 
in the late war with Russia, only two days before the sur- 
render of Kars, gave six-and- twenty shillings for a rat to eat ! 
Indeed I do not believe that any one would turn up his nose 
at a roasted owl, under similar circumstances j though ifc is 
certain that we would not, on any conditions, eat them at 
the Lord Mayor's dinner. Neither does Mr. Waterton 
eat monkeys at his own house, or the British officer eat 
rats at the royal table. ITor would owls eat birds if at 
