14? t STRIGID.E. 



cries, which sound something like hew, kew, or kcwitt ; 

 when perched, it articulates pooh, pooh ; and during the 

 breeding season its call sounds something like a long drawn 

 cooweeck. These varied sounds are still more modulated 

 by the action of the air, if uttered when on the wing, and 

 also in consequence of their being frequently mixed up 

 together. 



With exception of the highest northern latitude, this 

 Owl is frequently found all over Europe ; and in America, 

 from New York to Hudson's Bay, but the central parts 

 and south of Europe seem to be its favourite climate. In 

 Holland it is common, and not rare in Switzerland ; and 

 all over the German states it is well-known. It seems to 

 prefer the neighbourhood of men, provided it can avoid the 

 immediate contact, as it inhabits towers and roofs of churches, 

 which are seldom visited ; vaults, tombs, holes, and crevices 

 in fortresses, barns, and holes left in brick-work of any kind 

 by the workmen for the purpose of fixing scaffoldings. 

 Besides these hiding-places, it resides in young plantations 

 in the vicinity of fields, or rocky country, where it can 

 shelter during the daytime in a crevice of a rock or a 

 high bank. It is also fond of hiding among the close 

 branches in the top of a pollard tree, — any place, in fact, 

 where the rays of the sun do not shine on it, and where 

 it is hidden from the human eye ; in such places it sits 

 asleep during the day, but if disturbed flies off immediately. 



Wherever these birds are found, they are either alone, 

 at most in pairs, but never in companies. Their food 

 consists of mice, beetles, and small birds, which they are 

 said to lay up in store for any emergency ; bats also become 

 their prey. Small birds, as sparrows and larks, are surprised 

 when they are at roost ; half-a-dozen mice are said to be 

 consumed by one at a meal. 



This Little Owl has many enemies ; the hawks pursue 



