OWL 



679 



HEAD OF CARINE. 

 (After Swainson.) 



many representations on coins and sculptures, as to their subject 

 being the Carine noclua of modern ornithologists, but those who 

 know the grotesque actions and ludicrous 

 expression of this veritable buffoon of birds 

 can never cease to wonder at its having been 

 seriously selected as the symbol of learning, 

 and can hardly divest themselves of a sus- 

 picion that the choice must have been made 

 in the spirit of sarcasm. This Little Owl (for 

 that is its only English name though it is 

 not even the smallest that appears in England), the Chevdche of 

 the French, is spread throughout the greater part of Europe, but 

 it is not a native of Britain. 1 It has a congener in C. brama, a bird 

 well known to all residents in India. 



Finally, we have Owls of the second section, those allied to the 

 Screech -Owl, Aluco flammeus, the E/raie 2 of the French. This, 

 with its discordant scream, its snoring, and its hissing, is far too 

 well known to need description, for it is one of the most widely- 

 spread of birds, and is 

 the Owl that has the 

 greatest geographical 

 range, inhabiting almost 

 every country in the 

 world, Sweden and 

 Norway, America north 

 of lat. 45, and New 

 Zealand being the prin- 

 cipal exceptions. It 

 varies, however, not in- 

 considerably, both in 

 size and intensity of 

 colour, and several orni- 

 thologists have tried to 

 found on these varia- 

 tions more than half a 

 dozen distinct species. 

 Some, if not most of 

 them, seem, however, 

 hardly worthy to be considered geographical races, for their differences 

 do not always depend on locality. Dr. Sharpe, with much labour and 



1 A very large number have first and last been liberated in this country by 

 Lord Lilford and Mr. Meade- Waldo ; but though they have been known to breed 

 in their feral state, they can hardly be said to have established themselves. 



2 Through the dialectic forms Fresaie and Presaie, the origin of the word is 

 easily traced to the Latin praesaga a bird of bad omen ; but it has also been 

 confounded with Orfraie, a name of the OSPREY. 



ALUCO FLAMMEUS. (After Wolf.) 



