STRIGID.fi. 



291 



<(. A 



thp: little owl. 



Athene noctua (Scopoli). 



yiore than twenty examples of this common European species 

 have been obtained in England since 1758, when Edwards figured a 

 bird caught alive in a chimney near the Tower of London ; but so 

 many are known to have been imported from the Continent and 

 intentionally liberated — to say nothing of those which have escaped 

 from confinement — that it is impossible to say whether any of our 

 visitors have been really wild. Li May 1843 Waterton turned out 

 five Little Owls near Wakefield, which he had brought from Italy 

 the previous year ; while recently Mr. St. ( Kientin in Yorkshire, 

 and Mr. Meade-Waldo in Hampshire, have introduced others, 

 which have bred at large though in gradually diminishing numbers. 

 Cages-full brought from Holland may often be seen in Leadenhall 

 Market ; and, without disputing the claim of this species to a place 

 in the British list, it must be said that in the countries it mhabits, 

 it is certainly not addicted to migration. As yet it has not been 

 recorded from Scotland or Ireland. 



The Little Owl is of exceptional occurrence in Sweden, and in 

 Russia the Baltic Province of Courland marks its northern breed- 

 ing-limit ; but south of lat. 56° it is a generally distributed resident 



A A 2 



