THE LITTLE OWLS. 91 



I. THE LITTLE OWL. CARINE NOCTUA. 



Strix noctua,) Scop. Ann. i. p. 22 (1769). 



Syrnia psilodactyla, Macgill. Br. B. iii. p. 417 (1840). 



'Carine noctua> Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 178 (1872); Sharpe, 



Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 133 (1875). 

 Noctua noctua, Seebohm, Br. B. i. p. 174 (1883). 

 Athene noctua^ Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 357, pi. 317 (1871), 



B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 91 (1883); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. 



part iii. (1886); Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 291 (1889). 

 (Plate XX 'XVI 7.) 



Adult Female. Size small. Brown, with oval white spots, more 

 or less concealed by the feathers of the upper-parts; quills 

 brown, notched with white on the outer web, and barred with 

 white on the inner one ; upper tail-coverts brown, barred with 

 white; tail-feathers brown, tipped with whitish, and crossed 

 with four bands of whity-brown ; head brown, streaked with 

 triangular spots of white ; a patch of white on the nape ; face 

 white, the ear-coverts marked with brown ; under surface of 

 body white, with a band of brown across the fore-neck, the 

 breast and abdomen streaked with brown, the flanks with a 

 few brown bars ; under tail-coverts streaked with brown ; quills 

 brown below, spotted on the outer webs, and barred on the 

 inner webs with yellowish- white ; bill yellow, slightly tinged 

 with greenish ; feet greyish-yellow ; iris yellow. Total length, 

 11-5 inches; wing, 67; tail, 3-5; tarsus, 1-3. 



Adult Male. Similar in colour to the female, but a trifle 

 smaller. Total length, 8*5 inches ; wing, 6*0 ; tail, 3*0; tarsus, 

 I 'I, 



Young Birds. More dingily coloured than the adults, and 

 more broadly streaked on the under surface ; the white mark- 

 ings on the upper surface rather more distinctly indicated. 



Range in Great Britain. An accidental visitor to England 

 only, not having, as yet, been recorded from Scotland or 

 Ireland. The Little Owl is so often kept in confinement that 

 escaped specimens cannot be rare, and consequently it is very 

 difficult to say whether an occurrence of the species in Eng- 

 land is due to an accidental visit from the Continent, or 

 whether the individual in question has escaped from confine- 



