NOCTUA TENGMALMI. 177 



When Richard II. was superseded by Bolingbroke (afterwards 

 King Henry IV.), he wretchedly compares his eclipsed royalty 

 to that of the mounting lark by the nocturnal owl, thus — as 

 this owl preys both by day and night — 



K. Rich. — " What says King Bolingbroke ? Will his Majesty 

 Give Richard leave to live till Richard die ? 

 North. — My lord, in the base court he doth attend 



To speak with you ; may't please you to come down ? 

 K. Rich. — Down, down, I come, like glistering phaeton 

 Wanting the manage of unruly jades ; 

 In the base court ! Base court, where Kings grow base, 

 To come at traitors' calls, and do them grace. 

 In the base court ! Come down ? Down court ! down King ! 

 For night-owls shriek, where mounting larks should sing?" 



Tengmalm's Night Owl. 



(Strix Funerea.) Linn. (Nodua Tengmalmi.) Mihi. 



" The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean, 

 O'ercome with moss, and baleful mistletoe. 

 Here never shines the sun ; here nothing breeds, 

 Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven." 



—Titus Anclronicus. 



This little owl is about the size of the little-horned owl, for 

 which it is often mistaken. It also resembles Nodua passerina 

 (another rare species) in colour, but less spotted with white. 

 The shorter tarsi and thickly feathered toes, however, distinguish 

 it from both of these. Its tail is also comparatively longer — an 

 inch beyond the tail, which is 4i| against 3 inches, and gives it a 

 longer appearance. It is 10J inches long; the female 11 J (the 

 same size as the passerina). The head is unusually large, and both 

 the disc (which is black) and ruff are complete. It breeds in the 

 holes of trees, and lays two round white eggs. Its food — like 

 the other small owls — is mice, moths, coleopterous insects, &c, 

 and its plumage, like all the nocturnal owls, is soft and downy. 

 It also hoots like the last. Amongst the few instances recorded 

 of its being seen in Scotland is that of Professor Heddle, who 

 wrote to the Citizen in January 1886, that he saw one here, 

 close to the ruins of St Leonard's Chapel. He sa} r s : — 



" I write to record a visit to St Andrews of one or other of the two rarest 

 owls known in Britain — the Strix Passerina and the Strix Tengmalmi. 



" Passing the west gable of St Leonard's Chapel at dusk, my notice was 

 attracted to the perfectly noiseless flight of the owl, by the chattering of 

 three birds which were teasing it. The owl settled on the laburnum near 



