“Then I bethought me of another way of dealing with the brute. I had in my pocket about an ounce of chloroform, which I used for capturing insects. I took the bottle out, undid the cork, and thrust the ounce of chloroform down the fumart’s throat. It acted as a sleeping draught. He gradually lessened his struggles. Then I laid him down upon a stone, and, pressing the iron heel of my boot upon his neck, I dislocated his spine, and he struggled no more. I was quite exhausted when the struggle was over. The fight must have lasted nearly two hours. It was the most terrible encounter that I ever had with an animal of his class. My hands were very much bitten and scratched; and they long continued inflamed and sore. But the prey I had captured was well worth the struggle. He was a large and powerful animal—a male; and I desired to have him as a match for a female which I had captured some time before. He was all the more valuable, as I succeeded in taking him without the slightest injury to his skin.”[27]
The Birds that roam at night are more easily described. Although the Bat comes out pretty early in the evenings, it is not on night insects that he chiefly feeds. It is rather on the day insects which have not yet gone home to their rest. The bat flies mostly at twilight, and inhabits ruins and buildings as well as hollow trees in the woods.
THE LONG-EARED OWL.
The Owl is a nocturnal bird of prey. It flits by, as the twilight deepens into night, and hoots or howls in hollow and lugubrious tones. Though Edward was by no means given to fear, he was once scared at midnight by the screech of a Long-eared owl (Strix otus). It was only about the third or fourth night that he had gone out in search of specimens. When he began his night-work, he was sometimes a little squeamish; but, as he became accustomed to it, he slept quite as soundly out of doors as in bed. He was as fearless by night as by day. No thought of ghosts, hobgoblins, water-kelpies, brownies, fairies, or the other supposed spirits of darkness, ever daunted him. But, on this particular night, he had one of the most alarming and fearful awakenings that he had ever experienced.
There had been a fearful thunderstorm, during which he had taken shelter in a hole in the woods of Mountcoffer. He had fallen asleep with his head upon the lock of his gun. Before he entered the burrow, he had caught a field-mouse, which he wished to take home alive. He therefore tied a string round its tail, attaching the other end of the string (which was about six feet long) to his waistcoat. The little fellow had thus the liberty of the length of his tether.
THE OWL’S SCREECHES.
While Edward was sleeping soundly, he was awakened by something tug-tugging at his waistcoat; and then by hearing a terrific series of yells, mingled with screeches, close at his head. He was confused and bewildered at first, and did not know where he was, or what the dreadful noises meant. Recovering his recollection, and opening his eyes, he looked about him. He remembered the mouse, and pulled back the string to which it had been attached. The mouse was gone. Nothing but the skin of its tail remained. He looked up, and saw an Owl sitting on a tree a few yards off. He had doubtless begun to scream when he found that his capture of the mouse was resisted by the string attached to its tail. Edward emerged a little from his burrow, and drew out his gun for the purpose of shooting the owl; but, before he could do this, the owl had taken to his wings and fled away with his booty.
Besides the Long-eared owl, Edward also met with the Brown owl,—the only two species that he met with in his district, or of which he can speak from personal observation. Both of these owls uttered a too-hoo when sinking down upon their prey; and, after they had secured it, they would fly away without any further noise; but, if obstructed, they would both set up a loud screech. Edward had many opportunities of witnessing this trait in their characters. The best instance occurred in the wood of Backlaw.
AN ORCHESTRA DISTURBED.