Part 7
You may often see this little brown Hawk, the smallest of the species, hovering in the air, then they steadily look down on the ground, and if they chance to see a mouse, they will dart with incredible swiftness, like an arrow out of a bow, and catch it; sometimes they will catch a mole, and I have frequently taken this kind of Hawk in a steel trap, by laying one of these animals on the bridge; and with this I conclude my account of the birds of the Hawk kind. The three last mentioned indeed do not much damage or mischief, but if I had not mentioned them the catalogue would have been incomplete; besides, I flatter myself it will be acceptable to my readers, some of whom might, possibly, not be acquainted that there were so many different kinds of Hawks which breed in England.
THE BROWN WOOD-OWL.
Few persons perhaps imagine this to be a pernicious animal, yet in my opinion, it is the very worst winged vermin that exists; they seize their prey with great fierceness, and break it up exactly as the cat does, by beginning at the fore part. It is very happy for the farmer, and others who keep poultry, that the ducks and chickens are gone to roost before the Owl comes to prey in the night, otherwise there would be few, if any of them left; however I now proceed to make good my assertion, and describe the infinite mischief done by this sort of Owls. When the evening approaches, many animals such as leverets, young rabbits, young pheasants, young partridges, who had lain quiet in the day-time, come out to feed in the stillness and silence of the evening, when there is nothing else to disturb them, the Owl then comes, when they are exposed, and takes away what he pleases, and if they happen to have young ones at the same time, it is impossible to conceive what numbers will be taken away in a night’s time to satisfy his voracious appetite; and this I can affirm from my own observation, as I used to make it my frequent practice to go out and hunt the Owls all round the outsides of the warren. The method was this, two of us used to go with a gun, one on one side of the hedge, and the other on the other side; a third person accompanying us with a long pole or stick, who therewith beat the hollow and ivy trees, when the Owls would fly out, and we have shot sometimes a dozen in a morning. But one morning particularly I found an Owl’s nest, and shot the hen; and, on examining the nest, I found two young ones, with several pieces of young rabbits, leverets, &c. therein, but we could not meet with the old cock; on which I took out one of the young ones, leaving the other in order to entice him home to the nest again; the next morning I repaired to the place, when he flew out, and I shot him dead, and took away the other young one which had been left behind. But, what is remarkable, the old Owl had carried no less than three young rabbits to the single young one remaining, in one night’s time, which is an evident proof what havoc they make among the game. Another particular of these vermin deserves mentioning, which is, that they seldom eat more than the fore-quarters of any animal they kill, as the cat does, and always leaves the hind quarters untouched, which are found in the nest. I have likewise caught them in moon-light evenings in steel traps, baited with a rabbit-skin stuffed, and have often killed many of them with a gun, by keeping close under the hedge, and imitating the squeaking of a mouse, when the Owl has come directly to the place, and I have shot him dead on the spot.
THE LIGHT COLOURED BARN, OR, SCREECH OWL.
This kind of Owl is a very beautiful bird, of a palish brown colour, a little spotted and white on the breast, doing more good than harm, for it seldom preys on any thing but mice, which it will watch for in the barns like a cat, and destroy great numbers of that little vermin. On this account these Owls are encouraged by the farmers. If you should see one of them, mimick the squeaking of the mouse, and he will come to you directly, and you may easily shoot him, as was before observed of the Wood-Owl.
THE HORNED OWL
Has its name from the feathers which stand up on each side of his head, resembling two horns, and making a very beautiful appearance. There are many people, who do not believe there are any Owls of this species bred amongst us; the large brown horned Owl, (which is bigger than our largest birds of prey, whether kite or buzzard) is indeed from foreign parts, and is esteemed a very great curiosity, but never breeds here, which this little Horned Owl does, and much resembles the large one, only in miniature. I have shot several of them on Windsor-Forest: they do no mischief that I could ever learn, however I thought it proper to mention them, that the reader may be assured there is such a bird existing.
THE FERN OWL, OR NIGHT JAR.
This is a very harmless bird, about the size of the small Sparrow-Hawk, of a dark colour, and with a large mouth. They never go out till the evening, and then catch beetles and other insects for their sustenance.
THE RAVEN.
This is the largest bird that feeds on carrion, and is of a fine shining colour; in some places it is very serviceable, in eating up the stinking flesh or carcases of dead beasts and other carrion, but in many other places very mischievous, and does a great deal of harm. I having been allowed as much per head for killing them as I had for kites and hawks, as they are equally pernicious in killing and devouring young rabbits, ducklings and chickens.
I know of no better way to catch them, where they become troublesome, than to set two traps for them, in the same manner as you do for the buzzard, [see plate VI. fig. 1.] and put a rat between them for a bait, but when you have taken one or two, you must move your traps to another place, or the others will prove too shy to be caught; for as soon as one is taken, great numbers will keep round him, and seeing him fast, will grow suspicious of some danger, and not come near the place any more; but by observing the above method, in moving the traps, I have caught great numbers of them in a day, though it is attended with some labour and trouble.
I have often caught the London Ravens near twenty miles from home, in warrens, where they will sometimes come after the young Rabbits; by the London Ravens I mean those that generally frequent the outskirts of the metropolis, and live upon the filth lying there, grubbing up the dirt in order to get at their food, from whence the tops of their wings become of a nasty, dusky brown colour, occasioned by their wallowing in the dirt, by which means they are easily distinguishable from the country Ravens, which are as black as jet, according to the old saying, _As black as a Raven_.
[Illustration: _Plate V._ _page 174_ The RAT TRAP struck, describing also the CAGE for taking out the VERMIN.]
I have seen some of these Ravens sit upon a lamb, that has been dropped weak, not being able to run, when they have got to his head and picked out the creature’s eyes while yet alive. Another remark I shall make, which is to point out the difference between the manner of birds of the hawk kind carrying their prey, and those of the carrion kind. Now it is observable that buzzards, kites, hawks and owls, constantly carry their prey in their claws, whereas Ravens, carrion-crows and magpies carry their food in their beaks.
THE CARRION CROW.
This bird is well known, and in country places will do prodigious mischief, by destroying young rabbits, chickens and ducks, and likewise in sucking eggs, which the hens and ducks lay in the back yards or in the hedges: these the Crows will break and eat as greedily as any other vermin whatever. Now if you find they have any haunts about your house, get a steel trap, of the same kind as you use for other winged vermin; set it in the ground, quite level with the surface, and cover it with moss; then take a little piece of bush or some fern, stick some of it down, by one jaw quite low, and bring it round to the other jaw, [see plate VI. fig. 1.] put the bait, whether it be an egg, or rat, a piece of rabbit, or the guts of the same, or any thing else of this sort, in the back part, on the tail of the trap; and when you have put the little fence, before described all around, as a guide for him, he must of necessity go over the trap for the bait, and be caught; but I have been plagued with these as much as I have been with the Ravens, by being obliged to move the trap after every Crow I had taken; but by observing when one is caught, which you may easily hear, for they then make a great noise and keep flying round their imprisoned brother, almost close to the ground, you may then probably get a shoot, and kill some of them; but sometimes I have known them so shy that I could not get them to the trap at any rate. In this case you must observe the places where they most frequent, and take a cat, or a ferret, and tie it to a stake; then take a gun, and hide yourself, when the first Crow that sees the cat or ferret will make a terrible screaming noise, and bring many more, who scream and hover about till you have a fair shoot. In this manner I have had, sometimes, three or four shoots before they dispersed, and killed several of them; for when they see any kind of animal they are not used to, in the day-time, it greatly attracts their attention, and they wonder at it, as the small birds do at the sight of an owl by day-light; and this is the best way to get at the shy ones. I have seen the Crows pick out the eyes of a weak lamb, while alive, in the same manner as the ravens will.
[Illustration: _Fig. 2._ The FOX TRAP struck
The CUBE for WINGED VERMIN _Fig. 1._]
THE MAGPYE.
This is a very mischievous bird, doing great damage in warrens, and much of the same nature as the crow, preying on all kinds of flesh and carrion, like that animal. They are extremely pernicious about farm-yards and houses, killing and devouring young ducks and chickens, and likewise in sucking and destroying eggs in great numbers, about farm-houses, where the hens lay them by the sides of the rickyards and under the hedges. When you find they become troublesome in the above instances, set your trap (where you observe them to come) in the same manner as you do for the crow; bait it with a rat, which is as good a bait as any, or with an egg; or if they have killed any young ducks or chickens, and have not devoured them, at that place, where you find them, set your trap, and bait it with the dead duckling or chicken, and you need not fear catching them: but be careful to observe the following rule, which is, as soon as one of the Magpyes is trapped, to take it out as soon as possible, in order to set your trap again. You may easily discover this event, for as soon as one is taken in the trap, it makes a screaming noise, which brings great numbers of these vermin together, who come hovering and flying over their captive brother, which will give you a fair opportunity of shooting among them and destroying many. This method I have often put into execution, and it has been attended with very good success.
FINIS.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained. ● Used numbers for footnotes. ● The original did not include Plate II. ● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. ● Enclosed blackletter font in =equals=.