XIX.— THE OWL. 



" The Owl and Owlet talking, scolding, at each 



other. ' ' — Longfellow. 

 The ordinary notes of our common little spotted 

 Owlet {Athene brama) do certainly suggest family 

 jars, the spasmodic cackles in which it indulges before 

 beginning its nightly avocations sounding as if pro- 

 moted by very bad feeling. But, as a matter of fact, 

 the house Owlet is a harmless and , not unsociable 

 little being ; I have seen one " playing gooseberry " 

 to a pair of lovers of its own species with the utmost 

 nonchalance, and, up-country, where it comes out 

 in broad daylight, the other birds generally do not 

 seem to roind its presence, though I once saw one 

 being hustled by the '' sat-bhai." In Calcutta, 

 however, the Owls do not appear till the shades of 

 night have pretty well fallen, doubtless on account 

 of the crows, who, numbering among their very few 

 foes the large horned Owls, persecute all the tribe 

 on principle ; for, how are they to know that the 

 small Owls won't grow up into big ones ? We are 

 far too apt to fall into the mistake that birds are 

 born with an intimate knowledge of ornithology ; 



