365 



9 



however, by means of jesses and a long leash, plenty of scope. In front of the perch, at a little 

 distance from each other, were stuck two sticks in the ground, each having a slit at the top. In 

 this slit and in each side of each stick we lightly fixed a small twig with a slender branch or two 

 projecting, which were limed. The birds, on coming to mob the Owl, would alight on these 

 twigs, which, falling to the ground with their weight, entangled them in the lime, and thus they 

 were caught. In this way we captured Red-backed Shrikes, Yellow Ammers, Tree-Pipits, 

 Whitethroats, &c. It is with the Little Owl that the falconers capture the Great Grey Shrike, 

 which, in its turn, is used by them in capturing the Falcons. The livelier the Owl, the better it 

 is to capture small birds with, as from its hopping and flying about it is the easier seen. As soon 

 as the evening began to close in, and sometimes of a morning, we would see the Little Owl on the 

 move ; and in the middle of the day he might often have been seen quietly seated in some dark 

 cranny or other outside the church. In the nights in July, when every thing else was still, I 

 would lie awake, with my window open, listening to their ' kootoit, kwitch,' accompanied only by 

 the watchman's rattle and his monotonous voice as he went his rounds. During the time I had 

 them caged, they never plucked their birds before they eat them ; and if you approached to look 

 at them, they would stand up, stare at you, and snap their bills. The Little Owl makes no 

 regular nest, and lays from three to five eggs ; some I have are round, and some rather oval ; but 

 they are all of the same size, and are of a dull white colour." 



Pastor L. Brehm (J. f. O. 1855, p. 501) states that the male shares with the female the 

 labour of feeding the young, and gives the following anecdote : — " One of my watchful ornitho- 

 logical friends brought me from a place about two to three hours' walk from here an old female 

 Little Owl, which he had shot in a fir plantation, and stated that the male was there, but that 

 he could not find the nest. In the evening I went there to look for the nest and shoot the male 

 bird if possible, as these Owls do not breed here, and one must go to the Saulthal (which is from 

 four to six hours' journey distant) to find their breeding-places, and the one I now relate is the 

 only instance I know of their nesting in our fir woods. We searched long for the nest, but could 

 find no suitable place where it was likely to have been. At last I saw a rabbit-hole, and recollected 

 that foreign species of Athene, for instance, Athene cunicularia in America, nest in the ground. 

 We also saw droppings about the entrance, which confirmed my suspicions that the nest was 

 in this rabbit-hole. All our endeavours that evening to procure the male were fruitless. It 

 often called, but flew so high and settled on the tops of the highest trees, continually calling to 

 warn its young, that I could not shoot it. My companion went back the next day, and to his 

 astonishment saw three young birds sitting at the entrance of the rabbit-hole ; but they retreated 

 inside immediately he approached. In the evening he shot the male, and the next forenoon 

 caught the young ones." 



Mr. Gurney's account of the nidification of the Little Owl in captivity is as follows : — 

 "A pair of Little Owls, which I had in confinement, nested this spring in a small covered 

 box, which was placed in the corner of their cage. They laid four eggs about the middle of the 

 month of May, two of which they soon broke, but hatched the other two early in June. The 

 two young ones did not long survive ; how they disappeared I am unable to say, and am almost 

 disposed to think the old birds must have devoured them. I regret, owing to the nest being 

 placed in a covered box, I was unable correctly to ascertain the period of incubation." 



