“It is because they kill the tiresome mice that people should not shoot, or trap, or allow the eggs to be taken, of hawks and owls. Owls, and the {{w|kestrel}} in particular, live almost entirely on mice and young rats, and when we kill a {{w|Western barn owl|barn owl}} (the barn owl is the white owl which files about so silently over the fields) we are allowing hundreds of mice to live and thrive and eat our things.”