tengmalm's owl. 147 



the plumage, and by the length and abundance of the fea- 

 thers covering its short legs and toes, indicating the natural 

 defence against a low temperature afforded to a bird that is 

 an inhabitant of high northern latitudes. It has no doubt 

 been frequently mistaken for the Little Owl, and probably 

 obtained in this country more frequently than it has been 

 recorded; since, according to M. Temminck, the Little Owl 

 figured by Pennant in the folio plates illustrating the first 

 edition of his British Zoology, though called 2:)asserina, is 

 in reality a female of Tengmahni. Mr. Selby has in his 

 collection a specimen killed at Morpeth in Northumberland, 

 in 1 812. In 1836, a specimen recently shot was purchased in 

 a poulterer"'s shop in London ; and in May of the same year, 

 JNIr. John Leadbeater of Brewer-street received a specimen 

 for preservation which had been shot in Kent. There can be 

 no doubt, therefore, of the propriety of including this species 

 in a History of British Birds. 



This little Owl inhabits thick forests in Norway, Sweden, 

 Russia, and Germany ; occasionally in France, and the 

 northern parts of Italy ; but is in no country so abundant as 

 in North America, where, according to Dr. Richardson, it 

 has a wide range, including all the woody country from Great 

 Slave Lake to the United States, but is most plentiful on 

 the banks of the Saskatchewan. " It is strictly nocturnal in 

 its habits, and is so much dazzled by the light of the sun, 

 when it accidentally wanders abroad in the day, as to become 

 stupid ; and it may then be easily caught by the hand. Its 

 cry in the night is a single melancholy note, repeated at in- 

 tervals of a minute or two ; and it is one of the superstitious 

 practices of the Indians to whistle when they hear it. If the 

 bird is silent when thus challenged, the speedy death of the 

 inquirer is augured ; hence its Cree appellation of Death- 

 bird.'"' According to Mr. Hutchins, it builds a nest of grass 

 half way up a pine-tree, and lays two eggs in the month of 



L 2 



