NON-INDIGENOUS BRITISH BIRDS. in 



and farm-houses, as In the more desolate portions of the 

 mountain sides and uninhabited plains. It frequents 

 olive groves and vineyards as well as most of the classic 

 ruins in Italy and Greece. There is no gregarious tend- 

 ency in this species, and it lives in scattered pairs. It 

 probably pairs for life, and continues in many cases to 

 haunt one particular spot in which to roost and to breed 

 year after year. As is usual, the nesting place is generally 

 the daily retreat as well. The eggs are laid in hollow 

 trees, in crevices of rocks, in holes of buildings and ruins, 

 and exceptionally under the exposed roots of a tree. 

 In Algeria I have found nests of the southern race of 

 this Owl {Athene glaiix) under a rock boulder on. the 

 mountain side, and in a hole in a low range of mud cliffs. 

 Little or no nest is ever made, the eggs resting upon any 

 dust or refuse that may chance to be in the hole, or upon 

 a layer of pellets containing food refuse. 



Range of egg colouration and measurement : 

 The eggs of the Little Owl are from four to six in 

 number, rarely only three. They are oval in shape, 

 somewhat smooth in texture, and white. Average 

 measurement, v^ inch in length by 1*15 inch in breadth. 

 Incubation, performed chiefly by the female, is said, on 

 the authority of Mr. Meade-Waldo, to last twenty-eight 

 days. 



Diagnostic characters : There is no thoroughly 

 reliable character by which the eggs of the Little Owl 

 may be distinguished from those of the Scops Owd (the 

 only European species with which they can be confused) ; 

 they are slightly larger on an average, not quite so 

 rotund in form, and the texture is a little coarser. 



