OWLS AND MICE
The pinions of owls are so soft that there is no sound of their movement, and if it were otherwise owls might starve. The call that some of them make while hunting serves to 'freeze' the mouse or vole in the grass, and by the time the victim sees the shadow his fate is sealed. Tawny owls may have a quick way of dealing with their prey, but the barn owl, at least, has the habit of drifting about carry- ing the victim in his talons. Why doesn't he make an end of it with a quick contraction of those powerful claws that are capable of numbing a man's finger, or administer a coup de grace with his hooked beak? One cannot help but wonder about these things when, as was the case this evening, I watched a barn owl flying around with a mouse in his clutches, impatient, it seemed, for it to die so that he could take it to his hungry family. Is this the invariable and simple story of his behaviour, or is the mouse not being killed but being allowed to recover somewhat so that the owlets get a chance of killing for themselves?
Previous page
