34 Mr. J. A. Bucknill on the 



has observed it at Papho ; and though Lord Lilford remarks 

 that the instance recorded by Guillemard was the only one 

 known to him of this species nesting in a house, it is 

 perhaps worthy of remark, that the only nest which any 

 of us actually came across was built in a similar situation 

 at Papho, at the end of March this year. Horsbrugh obtained 

 several specimens in different parts of the island in March, 

 April, and May. 



706. Athene noctua (Scop.). 



The Little Owl, and the sub-species next dealt with, 

 should perhaps be really treated together, for at any rate in 

 Cyprus the bird, which is an extremely common resident, 

 seems to range through almost every variety of shade between 

 and including the typical forms. As Strix passerina it was 

 recorded by Sibthorp : Unger and Kotschy however in- 

 cluded it in their list as Athene noctua, Retz., var. meri- 

 dionalis. 



Lord Lilford, who remarked upon the sandy coloured 

 plumage of specimens collected by himself and Pearse, con- 

 sulted Seebohm with regard to them. Seebohm identified 

 the collection as " a good series, all more or less intermediate 

 between Athene noctua and Athene glaux," a conclusion more 

 or less borne out by a series sent by Glaszner to Madanisz. 

 The latter remarks that they are, although somewhat darker 

 than specimens from Palestine, Transcaspia, and Persia, really 

 closer to Athene ylaux than to A. noctua, whilst at any rate 

 one specimen from Glaszner's collection could be regarded 

 as a perfectly typical specimen of the former type. To what 

 has already been written about this bird in Cyprus I have 

 little to add. Miiller records clutches of eggs taken between 

 the 8th of May and the 4th of June, but we found clutches of 

 six, highly incubated, as early as the 10th of Apiil and fully 

 fledged young on the 23rd of May. Miss Bate states that 

 she never observed the species in the Troodos forest, but we 

 obtained eggs at Kambos in 1909, aud Guillemard records the 

 bird from the summit of the southern range, while I have 

 seen it on several occasions in the summer within a few 



