“The common horned owl, or lesser eagle-owl,” Uncle Paul continued, “is much like the bird we have been discussing, only it is far smaller, being very little larger than a crow, while the other is the size of a goose. It is the commonest of all the nocturnal birds of prey in these regions. In the night hours throughout the summer it keeps repeating, in melancholy accents, its long-drawn and doleful cry of cloo-cloo, which can be heard a long way off. Just as it takes flight it gives a sort of bitter sigh, made no doubt by the air expelled from its lungs by the effort of the wings at the moment of flying off. In the daytime, confronted by human beings, this bird wears a dazed and foolish expression. It snaps its beak, stamps its feet, and moves its big head abruptly up and down and from side to side. If attacked by too strong an enemy, it lies down on its back and threatens its foe with claws and beak. It inhabits ruined buildings, caves in rocks, and the hollow trunks of old trees. Seldom does it take the trouble to build a nest of its own, preferring to patch up one that has been deserted by a magpie or a buzzard. There it lays four or five round white eggs. I will remark in passing that the eggs of nocturnal birds of prey are not oval like hens’ eggs, but more nearly round. The hunting habits of the horned owl are like those of the eagle-owl: it has the same liking for rodents such as field-mice, rats, ordinary mice, and meadow-mice; it pounces upon young rabbits in the same manner, after patiently watching for them at the mouth of the burrow. Now let us pass on to another species. “The short-horned owl, or large sparrow-owl, resembles the lesser eagle-owl in plumage and size. The two egrets or plumicorns are very short, and they seldom stand erect as in the two preceding species. Because of the shortness of these ‘horns,’ the large sparrow-owl is often taken for a hornless owl. This species is seldom seen near dwelling-houses, preferring rocks, quarries, and ruined and solitary castles. It builds no nest, but is content to lay in a hole in some wall or rock two or three white eggs, shiny and round, and about as large as pigeons’ eggs. Its usual cry is goo, uttered rather softly; but if rain is coming the cry is changed to goyoo. Its diet is mostly confined to field-mice and meadow-mice. “The red owl is of about the blackbird’s size. Its plumage is ashy gray mottled with red and marked with little flecks of black running lengthwise and fine gray lines running around the body. It is the smallest and prettiest of our nocturnal birds of prey. When its fine egrets stand up well on the forehead they give it a bold and martial air that goes well with its eagerness for the chase.” “In the picture,” Emile pointed out, “its horns are not standing up.”