144 STBIGID.E. 



liole, for the bird will by this means entrap itself when en- 

 deavouring to come out for the evening. It is much used 

 on the Continent as a decoy to entrap small birds." M. 

 Vieillot says it is seldom found in forests. 



The actions of a specimen kept for more than two years 

 by Mr. Leadbeatcr of Brewer-street were singularly gro- 

 tesque and amusing. 



Edwards drew his figure of this Little Owl, plate 228, 

 from a specimen caught alive in a chimney in London ; and a 

 second example was taken about the same time in a similar 

 situation, in the parish of Lambeth. Scopoli says it builds 

 in chimneys in Carniola. Mr. Rennie, in a note to a recent 

 edition of White's Selborne, says, " I recollect seeing in 

 Wiltshire the remains of a specimen of the rare Sparrow-Owl, 

 Strix passerina, nailed up to a barn-door." — Page 34. 

 Two specimens, according to Dr. Moore, have occurred in 

 Devonshire : Montagu has also mentioned one in the same 

 county. My friend Mr. T. C. Eyton sent me a notice of 

 one taken near Bristol ; Dr. Hastings mentions one instance 

 of the occurrence of this bird in Worcestershire ; and Pen- 

 nant speaks of one taken in Flintshire. In a direction north 

 of London, Mr. Hunt of Norwich, in his British Ornitho- 

 logy, says, " We recollect a nest of these birds being taken 

 at no great distance from Norwich ;" and Mr. Paget, in the 

 Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth, mentions two 

 specimens as well authenticated. The Little Owl has oc- 

 curred in Yorkshire ; and the woodcut in Mr. Bewick'^s work 

 was taken from a drawing of a specimen shot at Widrington 

 in Northumberland, in January 1818. M. Temminck says 

 this species does not go beyond the 55tli degree of North 

 latitude. It is common in Germany and Holland, visits 

 Spain and the Morea, and, according to Mr. Strickland, is 

 common in the Levant. 



The beak is yellowish white ; the irides very pale straw 



