420 THE OWLS 



The success of later experiments has not met with universal 

 approval. In Cambridgeshire it is said to have materially reduced 

 the numbers of many of the smaller Passerex, while still more serious 

 charges are laid at its door by the gamekeeper, who protests that it is 

 a serious pest in the neighbourhood of pheasant coops and of partridge 

 chicks. Since it hunts in broad daylight there may be truth in these 

 charges, though we venture to doubt whether it is guilty of raids 

 on partridges' eggs, which charge has been on many occasions brought 

 against it. 



This is the owl that was held in such esteem by the ancient 

 Greeks, who dedicated it to Pallas Athene and engraved it on their 

 coins. By them it was regarded as the symbol of wisdom. The reason 

 for such singular marks of regard is somewhat difficult to understand, 

 for the little-owl is the buffoon among birds, performing the strangest 

 antics when excited, and giving no particular signs of intelligence in 

 its graver and calmer moments. Nevertheless it is said to make an 

 interesting pet. The late Dr. Bowdler Sharpe once kept a pair of 

 these birds, largely for the purpose of exterminating the cockroaches 

 which infested his kitchen. "Every night," he wrote, "the gas was 

 turned low and the owls sat on our hands like trained hawks. Their 

 bright little eyes were turned in every direction, and the advent of a 

 beetle was announced by a vigorous ' bobbing ' of their heads. Before 

 I could see the noxious insect, the owls would leave their perch on 

 my hand, and glide noiselessly down and capture the unsuspecting 

 horror. Then they would stand over it, with one wing spread out, as 

 if to protect the savoury morsel from the vulgar world which knows 

 not the delicacy of a black-beetle. Then, grasping it with their toes, 

 holding it like a parrot, as if with a hand, they would munch it up 

 contentedly, till not even an antenna was left to mark the place of 

 slaughter." 



Its flight resembles that of a bat, being erratic and speedily 

 changing in direction. Downy pheasants apart, this bird feeds on 

 small birds, mice, grasshoppers, cockchafers, and other insects, while 



