1^48 Little Owls. 
of hcv and gave her to me she was the most perfect little 
demon imaginable. She was not shy and would feed readily 
in my presence, but if I put my hand near her or attempted 
to touch her she flew at me in a fury and bit and scratched 
with such energy that I was soon compelled to wear a glove — 
especially when cleaning her cage, a process to which she 
much objected. For several weeks I could do nothing with 
her and though, like Cowper's hare, 
" She duly from my hand received 
Her pittance every night; 
She took it with a jealous look 
And when she could, would bite." 
At length, however, she did become rather more amen- 
able, allowing her cage to be cleaned without protest, and 
taking her meals with a moderate degree of gentleness, though 
she could seldom repress a little yell of angry defiance as 
each mouthful was handed to her. 
Whether I should have succeeded in completely ex- 
orcising the evil spirit which possessed her I shall never 
know, for one morning the window was left open accidentally 
and she flew out to join a bachelor Owl who had been seren- 
ading her for some nights past. She stayed about for a few 
days but we failed to recapture her, as her suitor appeared 
to be supplying her with food, and she only once took a dead 
Sparrow we put out. Let us hope that she rewarded his 
devotion by becoming a faithful and loving wife — a role, how- 
ever, which I find it difficult to imagine her playing with 
any success. 
Those who have troubled to read this article will, I 
fear, be likely to come to the conclusion that I have been 
guilty of exaggeration in describing my pets' intelligence. 
If so, I can only advise them to hand-rear a Little Owl and 
see for themselves, assuming, of course, that they have the 
proper facilities for keeping one. 
Food IS the chief difficulty, a regular supply of freshly- 
killed mice or sparrows being essential to the well being of 
the small Owls. As my birds were regularly let out for 
exercise I found a light cage of zinc and wire netting about 
three feet square and provided with a flat perch quite suf- 
ficiently large to accommodate them. At the bottom of the 
