THE DOWNY OWLETS. I05 



autumn. Less tlian twenty authentic records of the occr.rrence 

 of the species within our limits have been pubHshed, ai-.d prob- 

 ably not more than sixteen or seventeen are genuine. The 

 counties in which Tengmalm's Owl has been captured are 

 Northumberland, Yorkshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, and 

 Somerset, Shropshire, Lancashire, and Cumberland, most of 

 these instances having occurred during autumn. Two Scot- 

 tish records are known, one in the Orkneys, and one in the 

 Firth of Forth, but no specimen has yet been procured in 

 Ireland. 



Range outside the British Islands. — Tengmalm's Owl is an in- 

 habitant of the mountain regions of the Old and New Worlds, 

 for I have never been able to discover the specific distinctness 

 of the American form, the so-called Nydala richardsoni. It 

 is an inhabitant of the pine-forest region south of the Arctic 

 Circle from Scandinavia to Eastern Siberia, and again in 

 North America. In Lapland it breeds as far north as 68° 

 N. lat, in the Ural Mountains up to 59° N. lat. On the 

 River Ob Dr. Finsch obtained it in lat. 61°, and Mr. See- 

 bohm's collectors have sent specimens from Krasnoyarsk in 

 Siberia. The species is plentiful in Eastern Siberia round 

 Lake Baikal, and also as far as Sidemi in Ussuri Land, but 

 has not yet been detected in Kamtchatka. 



In winter Tengmalm's Owl migrates to a certain extent, but 

 is not found very far to the south. It breeds in the Car- 

 pathians and the Alps in the forests, as well as in the Vosges 

 and the mountains of South-eastern France. 



Habits. — Although principally a nocturnal species, Teng- 

 malm's Owl does not appear to be incommoded by the day- 

 light ; and, indeed, in the northern localities where the species 

 breeds, the sun never sets, and there is scarcely any difference 

 between night and day. Its food consists of small rodents, 

 such as mice and lemmings, as well as insects and small 

 birds, and Taczanowski states that in Eastern Siberia this 

 little Owl is detested by the trappers, as it is continually being 

 taken in the snares set for the Ermine, and the bird is there- 

 fore considered a nuisance. 



Wheelwright says that the note of Tengmalm's Owl is a 

 soft whictle, which is heard only in the evening and at night. 



