128 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



that is a subject they have to study just as much as 

 ourselves. No doubt the small birds suffer from, 

 the little Owl at times, but generally insects, mice, 

 and house-lizards must make up his bill of fare, as 

 being most easily obtainable. He is not a bird of 

 powerful flight, and does not spend much time on 

 the wing, his up-and-down method of travelling 

 not being suited for hunting ; so he prefers to sit on 

 a telegraph-wire, or any other convenient perch, 

 and await eventualities. 



He is very much of a domestic Owl and, I am told,, 

 is sometimes so tame in verandahs where he is 

 unmolested, that he will let himself be touched ; for 

 under man's hospitable roof he finds a dormitory 

 for the day-time, and a convenient nesting place. 

 The few eggs his mate lays are white, like those of 

 all Owls, and the flufiy owlets, when fledged, are drab- 

 and-white with yellow eyes just like their parents,, 

 for, as a general rule, Owls do not go in for invidious 

 distinctions between difierent sexes and ages in the 

 matter of dress. In Burma and Western India, the 

 little Owls are smaller and darker than hereabout ;. 

 and in the north-west, about Peshawar, begins the 

 range of another species, the Bactrian Owlet {Athene" 

 hacteriana) chiefly differing from the Indian bird in- 

 being streaked instead of barred below. This bird' 

 is almost identical with the celebrated Owl of Minerva. 



