Autumn brings with woodcock the woodcock owls--as the short-eared owls
are called, because their flight is like a woodcock's, or because
they come at the same time. We would make the strongest plea for the
preservation of these most useful owls. When an unusual number appeared
in parts of the South of England, they made themselves very busy among
the rats that had taken lodgings in the root-fields. Yet a party of
town shooters, out after partridges, gloated more over the bagging of
one of these owls than over all the rest of their spoil. The owl was
wounded only enough to be caught--and his wound had cost the party
eleven cartridges. Perhaps if the short-eared owl bred here he might
be tempted to prey on young game; but very few remain to breed in the
north, and the young game is grown when the autumn migration begins.
Rats and mice with occasional small birds and some beetles form the
staple diet.
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