LITTLE OWL. 125 
Jones has taken eggs at Disley, and we have seen 
the bird in the woods of the Dane Valley near Wincle; 
but in the Hill Country generally this species is far 
less common than the Long-eared Owl. 
Unless disturbed, the Tawny Owl seldom leaves its 
hiding-place in daylight, and when it does venture 
abroad it becomes the butt of all the small birds in 
the neighbourhood. In Dunham Park, on a bright 
May morning, Coward’s attention was attracted by an 
uproar in the tops of the beeches. On proceeding to 
the spot he saw a number of Starlings, Thrushes, 
and Blackbirds, which, together with a few Robins 
and other small birds, were mobbing a pair of Tawny 
Owls, flying round them or hopping amongst the 
branches in their immediate neighbourhood with loud 
and angry cries). The alarm-notes of a Jackdaw, 
which joined the concourse, speedily attracted about 
a dozen of its fellows to the spot, whose cries in- 
creased the din as they circled round the tree-tops. 
The aggressors were careful to keep out of reach of 
the Owls’ talons, but succeeded in dislodging the 
dazed creatures from their perches, and followed 
them from tree to tree with incessant clamour. 
LITTLE OWL. 
ATHENE Noctua (Scopoli). 
As most authorities are agreed that the majority, at 
any rate, of the Little Owls that have been obtained in 
England have either escaped from confinement or been 
purposely liberated, the bird can only be provisionally 
included in a Cheshire avifauna.! 
1 Of. Seebohm, op. cit. vol. i. p. 174. Saunders, op. cit. p. 301. 
