ISC, 
Mil Liffir OirJs. 
Scotland, and took the Owls witl; me. Peeps disliked the train, 
biit he endui-ed it as an unavoidable evil, when once he had 
been thrust, protesting- ang-rily, into his ti'avelling cage. "But 
Mrs. Peeps never became reconciled to railway travelling, and 
throughout the greater part of the night gave loud and audible 
expression to her discontent. The noise she made was not the 
ordinary alarm call, nor yet the cry uttei-ed by the Little Owl 
when its nest or young are threatened: it was an ang*ry, 
querulous kee-uk, kee-uk, which Peeps used to utter when I 
interfered with his food or when he was fighting and e.xpected 
to get the worst of the encounter. I know of no bird except, 
the Little Owl, which gives vocal proof of its annoyance, when 
irritated by a combination of circumstances, vexatious, yet not 
actually painful nor accompanied by the appearance of some 
particular object causing anger or fear. When really fright- 
ened, Mrs. Peeps was silent, and it was only during quiet 
moments that she indulged her chagrin by outbursts of un- 
parliam.cntary language. There is something amazingly human 
<ibout Athene noctua and the goddess of wisdom was surely 
right ill the choice of her pet! 
After the Owls had been some weeks in their new 
•quarters. Peeps began to letaliate against the attacks of his 
future spouse, and the battles which raged between them 
frequently necessitated my interference to prevent bloodshed. 
The combatants, on meeting, would face each other for a 
moment with drooping wings and ruffled plumage, squeaking 
and kee-uking angrily: then they would begin to make quick 
pounces, the bird attacked shooting into the air at the last 
moment, and trying to come down on the aggressor from 
above. Peeps' superior wing power at length gave him the 
advantage, and Mrs. Peeps in her tui'n became the bullied one, 
and I often had to interfere on her behalf. Matters continued 
for a long time in this unsatisfactory state and I began to 
fear that my birds were of the same sex. The difference in 
size between the male and female Little Owl is often trifling 
and the plumage is alike in both; at one time I believled 
that the female always had a flatter skull, but I discovered 
later that some hens have a typically masculine physiognomy. 
(To he continued). 
