THE TUFTED OWLS. 83 



been twice captured in England, once in Yorkshire and once 

 in Norfolk; but neither Professor Newton nor Mr. Howard 

 Saunders attach any credence to the statements, and the 

 occurrences are probably on a par with those accompanying 

 the alleged record of Scops brasiliensis and others, with which 

 I am familiar. 



Range in Great Britain. — Only a very occasional visitor, which 

 has occurred in all three kingdoms. It has been obtained in 

 several English counties, and at least three of the captures in 

 Norfolk are deemed authentic ; and it has been recorded from 

 Essex, Yorkshire, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, 

 Wiltshire, Cornwall, Pembrokeshire, Lancashire, and Cumber- 

 land. One record from Sutherlandshire is also admitted, as 

 well as three from Ireland. 



Range outside the British Islands. — Generally distributed over 

 Central and Southern Europe, but not extending into the 

 northern provinces or into Scandinavia. In winter it migrates 

 into North-eastern Africa and Senegambia; but in Africa 

 generally a dark form, S. capensis^ is found, and to the east- 

 ward the Tufted Owls are represented by several allied races, 

 the exact ranges of which have not been yet satisfactorily de- 

 termined. 



Habits. — The Small Tufted Owl is almost entirely a nocturnal 

 bird, feeding chiefly on insects, but also devouring occasionally 

 mice and shrews, and, according to Naumann, small birds and 

 frogs. Its presence is generally detected by its note, for the 

 bird is seldom to be seen, though, according to some oljservers, 

 it flies about in the daylight; as a rule, however, this little 

 Owl only emerges from its retreat in the evening, when it 

 sallies forth in quest of its food. The note is described by 

 Mr. Seebohm as monotonous as a passing bell, and almost as 

 melancholy. "To my mind," he says, "this note is exactly 

 represented by the syllable ahp, repeated in an unvarying and 

 desponding strain every ten or twenty seconds. This bird is 

 generally, if sparingly, distributed all over Greece, from the 

 seashore almost, if not quite, up to the pine-regions on the 

 mountains. I have often listened to the note as I lay in my 

 camp-bed in a peasant's cottage at Agoriane, half-way up the 

 Parnassus, where it was almost too cold to sleep with comfort ; 



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