46 Favourite Foreign Birds. 



a mealworm, beetle, grasshopper, or cockroach, with 

 all the grandeur, in its little way, of an eagle on a 

 hare. It rarely eats its prey on the ground, but carries 

 it to a neighbouring perch. Although settling on 

 the ground without hesitation, it never at any rate, 

 if in good condition and in a large aviary hops 

 or walks, and should it swallow a small insect on 

 the ground and wish to seize another only a few 

 inches distant, it will invariably rise a little in the 

 air and make a second pounce. 



" Perhaps when young these birds are more comical 

 than at any other period of their existence. On the 

 approach of a stranger, or of anything they may 

 consider to be dangerous, they lengthen themselves 

 out, raise their horns, and become perfectly rigid, hiding 

 themselves (and successfully, too) behind any upright 

 stick or branch. The bird then looks more like some 

 stuffed enormity than a living creature. 



" I have had the young and the adult birds, and 

 find them exceedingly easy to tame, not only feeding 

 from the hand, but flying towards me on my 

 appearance, and sitting quietly on the finger. 



" My Scops-eared Owls lay freely every summer in 

 some box or barrel, and sit steadily ; but the eggs 

 have always been clear. For a long time they have 

 been kept in the same aviary with various large and 

 not over-amiable birds. Of a pair of White Jackdaws 

 they are specially afraid, and retire to rest so very 

 early in the morning, and rise so very late in the 

 evening, to avoid these spiteful companions, that 

 their feeding-hours have been reduced to a minimum, 

 and may well account for unfertile eggs. The younger 



