102 
ALLEN’S naturalist’s TJBRARY, 
ancient tree. As night approaches, the Tawny Owl becomes 
more active, and its note is often lieard — “ hoo-hoo, hoo- 
hoo-hoo,” a wailing cry, which resounds to a considerable dis- 
tance, and is certainly not one of the least interesting sounds 
of a still summer night. 
The food of the Tawny Owl consists of small Rodents and 
insectivorous Mammals which stir forth in the dark, and it will 
also eat frogs and fish, and occasionally small birds, while its 
occasional onslaughts on young game-birds and rabbits are not 
to be gainsaid. 
Nest. — -In defence of its nest this Owl is sometimes very bold, 
and will swoop down and attack the intruder. The nesting- 
place is very varied, and although generally to be found in a 
hollow tree or an old ivy-covered ruin, or even an outhouse, the 
bird will sometimes select an old nest of some other bird, such 
as a Rook, a Magpie, or a Sparrow-Hawk, while its nesting in 
rabbit-burrows has also been chronicled, to say nothing of such 
curious sites as a disused dog-kennel, as related by Mr. A. ^V. 
Johnson in Mr. Seebohm’s work on British Birds. The same 
gentleman also states that he has known the eggs to be laid on 
the bare ground, “ somewhat concealed by the thick foliage of 
the lower branches of a fir.” 
Eggs. — Three or four in number; white, smooth, and rather 
glos.sy. Axis, i'75-i'9S inch; diam., I'S-i'd. 
THE DOWNY OWLETS. GENUS NYCTALA. 
Nyctala, Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1271. 
Type, N. iengmalmi (Gm.). 
The species of the genus Nyctala are diminutive represen- 
tatives of the Wood-Owls, but they differ from all the species 
of the genus Syrnium in their small size, and in the curious 
conformation of the ear-conches, which are different on either 
side of the head, as has been pointed out by Professor Collett, 
of Christiania. 
This may have something to do with the sense of hearing in 
the genus Nfyctala, but nothing is known on this point. Apart 
from the small size of the birds, the thick feathering of the 
