NAKED-FOOTED NIGHT OWL. 



Scotopldlus nudipes. 

 PLATE XXX. 



Strix nudipes, Nttson^ Orn. Swe. Gould's Birds of Europe. 

 Noctua passerina, Little Night-Owl, Selby. Strix and 

 Noctua passerina of modern ornithologists. 



THERE' is little doubt that the name passerina^ 

 applied by Linnaeus to a small Owl, has, I may 

 say, carelessly been given to several diminutive 

 species on account of their size only, and without 

 looking whether it was properly applied or not. 

 The bird of which we have endeavoured to give 

 a representation, is the Strix or Noctua passerina 

 of most modern ornithologists, but it is not the 

 S. passerina of Linnaeus, or the bird to which 

 that title was originally applied ; neither can it be 

 the Noctua minor of Ray, for that naturalist sap, 

 " parvitate sua ut quae merula minor sit, nee 

 alaudam magnitudine multum excedat."* We 

 are not satisfied, also, that it is the Little Owl of 

 Willoughby, (Eng. edit. p. 105,) although in some 

 points the description agrees tolerably. He says, 

 41 The ears great," t which would coincide much 



* Ray, Syn, Method. Av. p. 26 

 t Willoualiby, Oniith. pi. 5. p. 105. 



