174 BRITISH BIRDS. 



NOCTUA NOCTUA. 

 LITTLE OWL. 



(PLATE 7.) 



Strix noctua minor, Briss. Orn. i. p. 514 (1760). 



Noctua vulgaris, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. p. 87, pi. Ixxxvi. (1767). 



Strix noctua, Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 22 (1769) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Naumann, (Bonaparte), (Gray], (Schleyel), (Gould), (Sharpe), &c. 

 Strix nudipes, Nilss. Orn. Suec. i. p. 68 (1817). 

 Strix psilodactyla, Nilss. Skand. Faun. 1st ed. p. 88 (1824). 

 Carine noctua (Scop.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 29 (1829). 

 Surnia noctua (Scop.), Bonap. Oss. Reyn. An. i. p. 48 (1830). 

 Noctua nudipes (Nilss.), Gould, B. Eur. i. pi. 48 (1837). 

 Scotophilus nudipes (Nilss.), Jard. Brit. B. i. p. 274 (1838). 

 Athene noctua (Scop.), Bonap. Comp. List B. Eur. fy N. Amer. p. 6 (1838). 

 Syrnia psilodactyla (Nilss.), Macyill. Brit. B. iii. p. 417 (1840). 

 Noctua veterum, Schl. Mus. Pays-Bus, Striyes, ii. p. 28 (1862). 

 Noctua minor, Deyl. fy Gerbe, Orn. Eur. i. p. 122 (1867). 

 Strix passerina, Linn, apud Gmelin, Boie, Cuvier, Temminck, Roux, Yarrell, Brehm, 



Lesson, Selby, Stevenson*. 



The Little Owl is an accidental visitor to England and Wales, and may 

 be much rarer than its recorded occurrences would lead us to suppose. Two 

 examples in Mr. Borrer's collection must probably be erased from the list, 

 as he informed me that he subsequently ascertained that two birds of this 

 species were released from captivity by a gentleman living in the neigh- 

 bourhood where they were caught. As this species is very frequently sent 

 alive to England, it is impossible to say how many of the score or more 

 recorded examples may not have had a similar origin. 



The Little Owl is a resident throughout the whole of Europe south 

 of Scandinavia. In Northern Africa it is represented by a very nearly 

 allied species, Noctua glaux; but examples from Greece are paler than 

 the northern form, approaching N. glaux; and in Asia Minor both 

 species occur, together with intermediate forms. East of the Ural Moun- 

 tains another nearly allied species occurs, N. bactriana, having the toes 

 thickly feathered almost to the claws instead of only covered with hairy 

 bristles, and having also a much shorter tarsus. This species extends as 

 far east as Northern China. 



The Little Owl is by far the commonest Owl in the south of Europe, 

 and one that is both seen and heard, not only in the evening but also in 



* The number of ornithologists who have confounded the Little Owl with the Pj^gmy 

 Owl makes it necessary to add to the name of the latter bird Linn, nee Gmel. in order to 

 avoid the possibility of error. This confusion has arisen from the generally insufficient 

 and frequently incorrect diagnoses of Linna3us and other writers, who attempt to describe 

 a species in a couple of lines, and thus pave the way fjr future complications in its 

 synonymy. 



