24 EGGS OP BRITISH BIRDS. 



In shape they are scarcely so round as those of the Tawny Owl, 

 but are much smaller, creamy-white in colour, and possess but 

 little gloss. The eggs may easily be confounded with those of the 

 Long-eared Owl ; and certain specimens are not easy to distinguish 

 from eggs of the Hawk Owl. They measure from 1"65 to 1'5 inch 

 in length, and from 1'31 to 1'2 inch in breadth. 



TENGMALM'S OWL. 

 (Nyctala tengmalmi.)* 



Plate 6, Fig. 2. 



Tengmalm's Owl is an accidental visitor to the British Islands. 

 At least a couple of dozen instances of its occurrence have been 

 recorded, three of them in Scotland, but none in Ireland. It is a 

 circumpolar bird, breeding in the pine-forests of Europe and 

 Asia, as well as those of America, south of the Arctic Circle. It 

 is also said to breed in the Alps and the Carpathians. In Lapland 

 it nests up to lat. 68° ; in the Ural Mountains it is not found 

 further north than lat. 59°, but Dr. Finseh obtained it on the Ob 

 in lat. 61°. In Northern France, Germany, Southern Scandinavia, 

 and Central Russia it is principally found in winter. In America 

 its range in winter extends to the Northern parts of the United 

 States. 



This bird is a very early breeder ; even in lat. 67° eggs have 

 been taken between the 2nd and the 13th of May, whilst at 

 Muoniovara, a degree still further north, Wolley obtained eggs 

 between the 8th of May and the 2nd of June, and received them 

 from a little further north between the 1st and the 27th of June. 

 Tengmalm's Owl is said not to build any nest. The eggs are laid 

 in hollow trees, and Wolley obtained some which had been laid 

 in one of the hollo wed-out logs which are closed at each end, 

 with a hole cut in the side, to induce the Golden-eye Ducks to 

 breed in them. A favourite nesting-place appears to be in the 

 deserted nest of the Black Woodpecker. 



The number of eggs varies from four to seven. They are pure 

 white in colour, smooth, and differ somewhat in shape, some being 

 elongated, others almost round. They vary in length from 1*3 to 

 1'25 inch, and in breadth from l'l to 1'05 inch. 



* Strix tengmalmi— Seebohm, Brit. B. I., p. 184 (1883). 



