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have had a pair about three years, and have never known them 
drink. They are very fond of a bath, but will never use the 
water a second time. The boys in the road, knowing that I have 
Owls, call out to them, and the birds answer them, They are 
very tame, and snap their beaks in token of recognition. They 
are very fond of one of my boys, and will perch on his head or 
shoulder. 
This and the Barn Owl are the only ones which I have known 
in the live state, for descriptions of the others I trust to stuffed 
specimens. 
Of the Little Owl many specimens have been captured in 
England, and even the nest and young occasionally discovered, 
but it is a rare visitor, Two were taken in chimneys, many 
years ago, in the parish of Lambeth. One was seen in Wiltshire, 
nailed against a barn door. Three are recorded as having been 
met with in Devonshire, one in Worcestershire, one in Flintshire, 
one near Bristol; a pair bred near Norwich, and two other 
specimens have been authenticated in Norfolk, and a few in other 
places. It is properly a native of Germany, Holland, France, and 
Austria. The name of Little Owl is very appropriate, for it is 
only eight inches in length, including the plumage, and when 
stripped of its feathers appears hardly as large as a common 
starling. The general colour of this bird is clove-brown, banded 
and marked with yellowish-brown, gray and white. The nest, so 
far as one is made, is built in chimneys, and other parts of 
buildings, pine and other trees, about half-way up; as also in 
osier beds. Its food consists of small birds, bats, mice and various 
insects. It is so voracious that, according to Bechstein, it can 
swallow five mice at a single meal. 
Tengmalm’s Owl, or Death Bird, received its specific name from 
Gmelin, in compliment to the discoverer, Dr. Tengmalm, of 
Stockholm. It is called the Death bird on account of a common 
superstition that reigns among several of the North American 
Indian tribes. When an Indian hears one of these birds 
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