302 LITTLE OWL. 



Mediterranean. Examples from Greece are paler than those from 

 Western Europe ; and an increase in sandy tint has led to the separa- 

 tion of the form which inhabits North Africa and Egypt as A. glaiix 

 or A. nieridionaUs. Other variations in tone are found in South 

 Russia and in Asia Minor ; while between the Ural Mountains and 

 Northern China there is a fairly distinct species, A. bactriana, which 

 has the toes covered with feathers instead of hairy bristles. 



In April or May the Little Owl deposits its 3-5 white eggs in holes 

 in ruins, farm out-houses and other buildings, hollow trees, disused 

 rabbit-burrows, or rocks: measurements i "4 by i'i5 in. Mr. 

 Meade-Waldo informs me that incubation lasts twenty-eight days ; 

 that the bird feeds largely on insects, and frequents lawns in the 

 evening to collect earth-worms ; while in winter it catches birds at 

 roost, and devours a large number of Thrushes ; eating also mice 

 and other small mammals. Early in the spring the male is very 

 noisy, and repeats its note of cu or sometimes cu-cii, with exasperating 

 monotony, and I have heard it do so again in autumn. This Owl 

 is comparatively diurnal, and is therefore liable to be mobbed by 

 small birds ; for which reason it is often used as a lure by Con- 

 tinental bird-catchers. Its habit of alternately ducking down and 

 drawing itself up to its full height is extremely grotesque. 



The adult has the upper plumage brown, with triangular white 

 stripes on the head, white spots on the nape and wings, and four 

 bands of dull white on the tail ; under parts dull white streaked 

 with brown ; facial disk greyish-white and ill-defined ; no oper- 

 culum : irides yellow ; toes covered with hairy bristles. Length : 

 male 9 in., wing 6 in. ; female 9-5 in., wing 6-5 in. The young 

 have a more rufous tinge than the adults. 



According to the least elastic interpretation of the often dis- 

 regarded laws of nomenclature, the generic name Athene is inadmis- 

 sible, inasmuch as it has been previously employed in Entomology, 

 and Cariue should therefore be adopted : but many will agree with 

 me that the point should be conceded, if only to preserve an associa- 

 tion with Pallas Athene, to whom this bird was sacred. The specific 

 name passerina, sometimes employed, is distinctly inadmissible ; for 

 the Sfrix passerina of Linnseus {Glaucidiiim passerimim of recent 

 systematists) is the Pigmy Owl, a bird hardly larger than a Sparrow, 

 and one which has never occurred in the British Island.s, nor is 

 likely to occur, unless introduced. 



