THE LITTLE OWL. 

 Athene noctua (Scopoli). 

 Plate 27. 



It is hard to say whether the Little Owl has ever reached this country un- 

 assisted, the first having been taken alive near the Tower of London in 1758. 

 As far back as 1843 Waterton is known to have turned out five near Wakefield, 

 and since then large numbers, imported alive from the Continent, have been 

 liberated by the late Lord Lilford in Northamptonshire, Mr. Meade-Waldo in 

 Hampshire, and Mr. St. Quintin in Yorkshire, whence it has spread far and wide. 



It inhabits Europe from as far north as the Baltic to the Mediterranean, 

 slightly different races being found in North Africa and Western Asia. 



The eggs, white in colour and numbering three to five, are placed within a 

 hollow tree or in some cavity in walls or rocks, or even in a hole underground. 



A great part of the food consists of insects, mice, and small rodents, but owing 

 to its custom of often hunting in daylight, many small birds are caught and 

 killed; it is therefore much disliked by other birds, and I once saw as many as 

 seven different species clamouring round their enemy. 



It has a monotonous double note. 



This Owl was accounted by the ancient Greeks as the bird of Pallas Athene, and 

 hence its likeness is often to be found on their coins. 



39 



