CHAP. 19. (17.)—THE OWLET.
The owlet shows considerable shrewdness in its engagements with other birds; for when surrounded by too great a
number, it throws itself on its back, and so, resisting with its
feet, and rolling up its body into a mass, defends itself with
the beak and talons; until the hawk, attracted by a certain
natural affinity, comes to its assistance, and takes its share in
the combat. Nigidius says, that the incubation of the owlet
lasts sixty days, during the winter, and that it has nine different notes.