1924 THE OWLS 



eastward into Persia, India, and Afghanistan. The ordinary form is the commonest 

 owl in Italy, and is also common in Sicily, although there it is migratory. It breeds 

 in Italy, Gibraltar, Spain, Greece, and Holland. Professor Newton observes that 

 " the little owl is not strictly nocturnal in its habits, for one observer has seen it, at 

 midday, when the sun was shining brightly, carry off a sparrow from a flock, but, 

 as a rule, toward the evening it becomes more active and vigilant. It seldom haunts 

 forests, but frequents old buildings, towers, and church walls, where, as well as in 

 hollow trees, and even in a rabbit hole, its nest is found." The number of eggs 

 varies from three to five, and both sexes take their share in incubation. No nest is 

 formed. In Italy the flesh of this owlet is commonly eaten; and this species has a 

 peculiar interest as being the owl associated with the goddess Pallas in classical 

 literature. In Persia, Mr. Blanford states that he has often seen five or six indi- 

 viduals of the pale-colored desert variety in company, and almost every garden in 

 that country has a pair, whose melancholy cries are regularly heard at night. 



In India the genus is represented by the spotted owlet (_C. drama), in which 

 the under parts are barred instead of streaked, and the general color above grayish 

 brown, with large and distinct white spots, and five bars on the tail. To the east- 

 ward of the Bay of Bengal there is a variety of this species, in which the ground 

 color of the upper parts is slaty brown, and the white spots very small, while the 

 tail has six bars. Jerdon says that the spotted owlet is to be found everywhere in 

 India except in dense forests. " Every clump of trees, and often a large single tree, 

 especially near a village, is sure to be tenanted by a pair, or a small colony of these 

 noisy birds. It often takes up its abode and roosts during the day in the eaves of 

 houses, or under the roof, and if anything disturbs its rest, comes forth with its 

 noisy, chattering, and disagreeable chorus. About sunset it is always on the alert, 

 and soon after it sallies forth to feed. It takes short flights, frequently seating 

 itself on the ground, or a paling, -or low branch, or outhouse, and thence captures 

 beetles and other insects on the wing, or snatches one off the branch of a tree, now 

 and then taking a low, undulating flight over the plain or garden, and dropping on 

 any small mouse, shrew, lizard, or insect it may spy on the ground." The writer 

 has often put his hand into some hole in a tree and had his fingers seized by one of 

 these owlets, and has frequently noticed the calm nonchalance with which the birds 

 have sat and regarded him when they have been dragged forth. The spotted owlet 

 lays from two to four eggs, which are generally deposited in March. 

 Hawk Owls ^ s a l rea dy mentioned, the term hawk owl, although commonly 

 applied to the members of the genus Ninox, properly belongs to the 

 species here represented. It may be well to add that the reader must be careful to 

 avoid confusing the scientific title of this genus with the name Syrnmm(p. 1910). 

 The hawk owl brings us to a group of genera differing from those already described 

 by the cere not being inflated, with the oval nostrils always pierced in its front mar- 

 gin. The hawk owls, which have no distinct ear tufts, are characterized by the 

 long and graduated tail, which approaches the wing in length. The head is unusu- 

 ally flat, with the facial disc nearly obsolete, a strongly-curved and powerful bill, 

 and a small orifice to the ear. The wings are short, and the whole plumage very 

 hard and compact, while the legs are rather short, and the toes thickly feathered. 



