174 BRITISH BIRDS. 
NOCTUA NOCTUA. 
LITTLE OWL. 
(PLATE 7.) 
Strix noctua minor, Briss. Orn. 1. p. 514 (1760). 
Noctua vulgaris, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. p. 87, pl. Ixxxvi. (1767). 
Strix noctua, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 22 (1769); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Naumann, (Bonaparte), (Gray), (Schlegel), (Gould), (Sharpe), &c. 
Strix nudipes, Milss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 68 (1817). 
Strix psilodactyla, Nilss. Skand. Faun. 1st ed. p. 88 (1824). 
Carine noctua (Scop.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 29 (1829). 
Surnia noctua (Scop.), Bonap. Oss. Regn. An. i. p. 48 (1830). 
Noctua nudipes (Milss.), Gould, B. Eur. i. pl. 48 (1887). 
Scotophilus nudipes (Nilss.), Jard. Brit. B. i. p. 274 (1858). 
Athene noctua (Scop.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. § N. Amer. p. 6 (1838). 
Syrnia psilodactyla (Nilss.), Macgill. Brit. B. ii. p. 417 (1849). 
Noctua veterum, Schl. Mus, Pays-Bas, Striges, ii. p. 28 (1862). 
Noctua minor, Degl. § Gerbe, Orn. Ewr. i. p. 122 (1867). 
Strix passerina, Linn. apud Gmelin, Boie, Cuvier, Temminck, Roux, Yarrell, Brehm, 
Lesson, Seiby, Stevenson™. 
The Little Owl is an accidental visitor to England and Wales, and may 
be much rarer than its recorded occurrences would lead us to suppose. Two 
examples in Mr. Borrer’s collection must probably be erased from the list, 
as he informed me that he subsequently ascertained that two birds of this 
species were released from captivity by a gentleman living in the neigh- 
bourhood where they were caught. As this species is very frequently sent 
alive to England, it is impossible to say how many of the score or more 
recorded examples may not have had a similar origin. 
The Little Owl is a resident throughout the whole of Europe south 
of Scandinavia. In Northern Africa it is represented by a very nearly 
allied species, Noctua glaux; but examples from Greece are paler than 
the northern form, approaching N. glaux; and in Asia Minor both 
species occur, together with intermediate forms. ast of the Ural Moun- 
tains another nearly allied species occurs, N. bactriana, having the toes 
thickly feathered almost to the claws instead of only covered with hairy 
bristles, and having also a much shorter tarsus. This species extends as 
far east as Northern China. 
The Little Owl is by far the commonest Owl in the south of Europe, 
and one that is both seen and heard, not only in the evening but also in 
* The number of ornithologists who have confounded the Little Owl with the Pygmy 
Owl makes it necessary to add to the name of the latter bird Zinn. nec Gmel. in order to 
avoid the possibility of error. This confusion has arisen from the generally insufficient 
and frequently incorrect diagnoses of Linnzeus and other writers, who attempt to describe 
a species in a couple of lines, and thus paye the way for future complications in its 
synonymy. 
