BIRDS OF PREY AND OWLS 



477 



they must have done an immense amount of good. 

 Ornithologists from all parts of the United States 

 unanimously agree that grasshoppers form the 

 staple diet of this hawk, though mice and gophers 

 are also largely eaten, and especially during the 

 winter months, when insect food is scarce. 



Of the PYGMY FALCONS there are several 

 species, ranging from the eastern Himalaya, 

 through Tenasserim and Burma, to the Malay 

 Islands and the Philippines. The smallest is 

 the RED-LEGGED FALCONET of Nepal, Sikhim, 

 and Burma. It feeds largely upon insects, such 

 as dragon-flies, beetles, and butterflies, hawking 

 them with a swallow-like speed. Occasionally 

 the members of this little group are said to 

 hunt down and kill birds larger than themselves. 



OWLS 



FEW birds have been more misrepresented 

 in literature than the OWLS. For centuries they 

 have been depicted as birds of ill omen, and 

 accused of all kinds of diabolical practices. 

 Shakespeare, for example, repeatedly makes the 

 owl do duty for some evil sign, or fulfil some dire 

 purpose. Thus in Macbeth, Act II., Scene ii., 



It was the owl that shriek'd, the fatal bellman, 

 Which gives the stern'st good-night. 





Photo bj Ottomar 



SPECTACLED OWL 



j South American bird with a wmciuhat remarkable coloration 



By ftrmiision ef Percy Leigh Femkeften^ Esq. 



PEREGRINE FALCON 



j4 favourite in falconry 



And later on, in Act IV., it 

 is an owl's wing which he 

 makes the witches add to 

 their caldron of noisome 

 things, when brewing their 

 deadly potion. In Spain the 

 scops and tawny owls are 

 believed to be devil's birds, 

 and are accused of drinking 

 the oil from the lamps 

 suspended before the shrines 

 of saints. The gamekeeper 

 nails their bodies up on the 

 barn door as offenders of the 

 worst type, whilst the Mala- 

 gasy believe owls to be the 

 embodiments of evil spirits. 

 It is therefore a relief 

 to find this unwarrantable 

 prejudice is not absolutely 

 universal, since amongst some 

 people, at least, the owl has 

 found some favour. The best- 

 known instance of this is the 



(Berlin 



