164 BRITISH BIRDS. 



STRIX TENGMALMI. 

 TENGMALM'S OWL. 



(PLATE 7.) 



Strix tengmalmi, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1788) ; et auctorum plurimorum 

 Temminck, Naumann, Vieillot, Schlegel, Sundevall, (Newton), (Salvation), (Shelley), 

 (Sharpe fy Dresser). 



Strix dasypus, Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. ii. p. 972 (1805). 



Athene tengmalmi ( Gmel.), Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 549. 



.^Egolius tengmalmi (Gmel.), Kaup, Natilrl. Syst. p. 34 (1829). 



Noctua tengmalmi (Gmel.), Cuv. Regn. An. i. p. 345 (1829). 



Ulula tengmalmi (Gmel.), Bp. Oss. Reg. An. Cuv. p. 53 (1830). 



Syrnium tengmalmi (Gmel.), Eyton, Hist. Rarer Br. B. p. 90 (1836). 



Scotophilus tengmalmi (Gmel.), Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1837). 



Nyctale tengmalmi (Gmel.), Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer. p. 7 (1838). 



Nyctale richardsoni, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer. p. 7 (1838). 



Strix frontalis, Licht. Abh. Akad. Berlin, p. 430 (1838). 



Nyctale dasypus (Bechst.), Gray, List Gen. B. p. 6 (1840). 



Nyctale tengmalmi (Gmel.), var. richardsoni, Ridgw. Am. Nat. 1872, p. 285. 



Nyctale funerea (Linn.), apud Bonaparte, Schlegel, Taczanotcski ', &c. 



Tengmalm's Owl is an accidental visitor to the British Islands. At 

 least a couple of dozen instances of its occurrence have been recorded, 

 three of them in Scotland, but none in Ireland. Some of these alleged 

 occurrences are myths ; for example, the specimen killed near Horsham, 

 and now in Mr. Borrer's collection, I found on examination to be a Little 

 Owl (Noctua noctua), whilst some have undoubtedly escaped from captivity. 

 On the other hand, it is quite possible that some of the recorded instances 

 of the capture of the Little Owl in our islands refer to this species. 



The migrations of Tengmalm's Owl are generally confined to a descent 

 from the mountains, where it breeds, to the plains ; but there can be little 

 doubt that in certain seasons some individuals extend their migrations 

 much further, as it has several times occurred in the autumn on Heligoland, 

 whence it doubtless crosses the sea to our islands. 



Tengmalm's Owl is a circumpolar bird. At the time Messrs. Newton 

 and Dresser wrote on this species its distribution in Siberia was unknown. 

 Some writers, amongst whom are Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, attempt to 

 make the American bird subspecifically distinct from the European one, on 

 the ground of there being more of the brown spotting on the plumage, 

 especially on the feet and under tail-coverts a feature characteristic of 

 immature birds. I have been unable to detect any difference between 

 examples from the Palaearctic and Neartic Regions beyond the fact that 

 American birds are slightly darker than Palsearctic ones, and may have the 

 feathers on the feet not so pure a white. There does not even seem to be 

 an Arctic form ; examples sent by my collector from Krasnoyarsk scarcely 



