164 LITTLE OWL. 
and one in Herefordshire, in 1888, now in the collection of 
Mr. Chaffey. 
In Ireland it has not hitherto been known to have occurred. 
The Little Owl resorts to the vicinity of human dwellings, 
and finds a retreat in the crannies of old walls and roofs, 
churches and towers, as also in rocks, and the umbrageous 
recesses of pine and other forests, woods, and plantations. It 
is principally nocturnal in its habits, but takes wing occasionally 
in the daytime in dull weather, as well as in the twilight. It 
flies well, though its wings are not very long, but with an 
up-and-down motion, like that of a Woodpecker. If taken 
young there is no difficulty in rearing and taming it, and 
it is much used on the Continent as a decoy for entrapping 
small birds. “That small birds,’ says Bishop Stanley, ‘gene- 
rally speaking, have a great dislike to Owls, is clear, from 
the uproar that takes place if an unfortunate Owl is dis- 
turbed in the daytime, and compelled to appear in broad 
daylight, pursued, as it is sure to be, by a host of them, 
who persecute it by every means in their power. And we 
may therefore conclude, that they either take it for their 
real enemy, the Hawk, or that it does now and then, when 
it can, feast upon any of them which may, by accident, fall 
into its clutches. Of this antipathy the bird-catchers in 
Italy know how to take advantage.’ They are found alone 
or in pairs, not in companies, and are pursued themselves by 
hawks, rooks, magpies, and jays. Durimg the breeding-season 
they fly about, and chatter even in the daytime. 
It feeds on mice, as also on swallows and other small 
birds, which it sometimes catches on the roost, bats, and 
insects. According to Bewick, it is said to pluck the birds 
before it eats them. 
The note resembles the syllables ‘keu, keu, keewit, or 
koowit;’ and when perched, ‘pooh, pooh,’ its voice being more 
drawn out in the breeding-season. It is the opinion of one 
author that the harsh and dissonant cry of the Owls is for 
the purpose of alarming their prey, and giving them oppor- 
tunity to get out of the way to prevent their too great 
destruction. This is most surely a baseless theory, and runs 
counter to the whole course of nature. I think I may venture 
to assert that no peculiar faculty is given to any living 
creature for the immediate benefit of any other kind but its 
own—for that of any other individual but itself. Mr. Mudie, 
with rather more show of reason, suggests on the exact 
