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" The note of this little Owl is a whistle, — one long, loud ' whe-e-e,' like blowing into a key — 

 then a number of finer notes, quickly repeated, ' Tiweet, tiweet, tiweet, tiweet,' not so loud. I 

 have never heard it till this spring. One night, early in March, I slept at a woodwatcher's cabin 

 in the forest, and my host came into my room about 5 a.m. and told me to come out and hear it. 

 The bird was in a fir-plantation about eight hundred or a thousand yards from the house ; and I 

 distinguished the note very plainly. I stole up quietly and identified the bird. I had often heard 

 the sound before, and always took it for Tengmalm's Owl ; so, to make quite sure, I shot it. It 

 must have a large range in Scandinavia; for, as you know, I shot a family of young fliers at 

 Quickiock, and I do not believe that this place is its most southern range, although they have 

 never been found breeding in Scania (nor, for the matter of that, can I learn that any one has 

 really got authentic eggs), and are very rare or only accidental in Denmark. 



" They are very bold and voracious for their size ; and I have more than once seen them 

 strike down a Titmouse in the forest. Although we know nothing for certain of its breeding- 

 habits, we may take it for granted that it lays more than two eggs, as stated by Temminck ; for 

 out of the family I saw at Quickiock I obtained four specimens, and I am not certain but that 

 one escaped." 



Naumann has given the following account of the distribution and habits of the Pigmy Owl 

 in Germany: — 



" It is a denizen of the colder climes, and but seldom visits our parts. In Poland, Lithuania, 

 and Sweden it appears now and again, but is commoner, indeed almost common, in Russia, and 

 has been also shot in Hungary. In Germany it is everywhere rare. It always frequents woods 

 in the mountains, and particularly those where there is much underbrush. It has been found in 

 the Hartz and Thuringia, as also in the mountains of Silesia, Bohemia, Austria, and Styria. In 

 Silesia it has occurred in the woods in the low country, as for instance in the neighbourhood of 

 Wartenberg and the Trachenberg. As these occurrences have been sometimes in the spring, 

 when the Woodcocks are passing, sometimes in autumn, as also in winter, it may be looked upon 

 as a partial and not a regular migrant. It seems, however, that further investigation will show 

 that it is found in more localities in Germany than has hitherto been supposed ; but as it affects 

 lonely, thickly wooded, and mountainous districts, and is generally found in the dense forests, it 



escapes observation the easier Its food consists chiefly of large insects, such as moths, 



beetles, grasshoppers, &c, which it generally catches in the dusk, as also of small birds and mice. 

 It hunts after its prey by day, but equally so in the gloaming of the mornings and evenings. 

 That it does catch birds during the daytime is proved by the circumstance that one was shot in 

 the middle of the day with a Blue Titmouse in its claws that it had just caught. Before it 

 devours a bird it plucks it carefully, like a Hawk ; the mice it tears in pieces suitable for eating. 

 In confinement these little Owls refuse at first to eat during the day, but soon become reconciled. 

 At first they only feed in the evening, though by light. They are fond of small birds, and will 

 soon attack and devour living ones that have been put into their cage." 



The late Herr Seidensacher has recorded the following observations : — 

 " Strioc fygmoea occurs very sparingly in the neighbourhood of Cilli, and can be known by 

 its note, du-du-du, but is still not easily observed. It inhabits, in preference, localities where 

 groups of hollow oak trees are found on the edge of the forest; and on the 16th April this 



