20 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



Tlie Strix imsserina of Linnaeus, which is also the 

 Strix ^asserina of Bonaparte {Consp. Gen. Avium, 

 p. 36), and Strix arcadica of Temminck (Man, vol. i., 

 p. 96) has not been found in this country. It is a 

 smaller bird, and corresponds with the Sparf-uggla 

 (Sparrow Owl) of the Swedes. It is the Strix pygmcea 

 of Bechstein and Meyer, and Strix noctiia of Retzius.* 

 As some confusion seems to exist in the identifi- 

 cation of the smaller Owls, it may be as well to 

 point out here the distinguishing characters of the 

 bird which occasionally visits this country. 



Mr. Wheelwright, writing on the Ornithology of 

 Lapland, and referring to the Swedish Little Owl 

 (Strix passerina of Linnaeus) says : " It differs from 

 the Little Owl of Britain, in that its toes are covered 

 thickly with downy hair-like feathers, even to the 

 very claws, and the tail extends nearly an inch and 

 a half beyond the closed wings, whereas in the 

 British bird it is scarcely longer than the wings 

 themselves. Moreover, in the Little Owl of Britain, 

 the first wing-feather is equal in length to the sixth, 

 the second like the fifth, the third longest. In 

 the Little Swedish Owl, the first is like the ninth, 

 the second like the sixth, the third and fourth the 

 longest." 



* The synonym of Strix nudlpes, applied to our Little 

 Owl by Nilsson, is a misnomer, as the bird has feathered 

 toes like its Swedish congener. 



