PROPOSED NEW SUBSPECIES OF THE LITTLE OWL 69 



ON THE PROPOSED NEW SUBSPECIES OF THE 

 LITTLE OWL {CARINE NOCTUA {SCOPOLI)). 



By Walter E. Collinge, D.Sc, F.L.S., M.B.O.U., 

 The University, St Andrews. 



In a recent note^ Mr H. F. Withcrby points out that 

 the British and Dutch specimens of the Little Owl {Carine 

 noctud) are " much darker on the upper parts than those " 

 occurring in Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, and Italy, 

 and on this assumption he proposes to distinguish birds 

 from the former localities as a new subspecies. 



During the past eighteen months a large number of 

 adult examples of this bird have passed through my hands, 

 and I have frequently been struck by the variation in 

 colour. At first I thought the light-coloured forms were 

 confined to the north. (In this connection it will be 

 remembered that the birds liberated by Charles Waterton 

 in 1843 came from Italy.) Later I received an almost 

 fawn-coloured specimen from Plymouth, and again from 

 Rochford, Essex, whilst some of the darkest coloured ones 

 have been sent to me by Major H. O. Peacock from Lough- 

 borough. 



Moreover, the dark-coloured variety is sometimes a 

 speckled form, and the light-coloured variety also. Further, 

 when we come to compare Dutch examples we find that 

 the same rule holds good, as also in French and Italian 

 specimens. In other words, dark and light coloured forms 

 occur in the British Isles, Holland, France, and Italy. I 

 have not seen any birds from Germany, Hungary, or 

 Switzerland. 



Although at present it would be unwise to attach too 

 much importance to the fact, it is significant that all the 

 light-coloured birds I have seen were females. There can, 

 I think, be little doubt that Carine noctua, like most animals, 

 is subject to a certain amount of colour variation, and that 



^ Brit. Bh'ds, 1920, p. 238. 



