268 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



This little owl must not be confounded with 

 the little night owl of Britain, to which Nilsson 

 has given the best synonym, that of Stria nudipes, 

 nor with the American little owl (Strix acadeca, 

 Bon., p. 66, Wilson), which latter bird seems to 

 me to be a kind of link between Tengmalm's owl 

 {which does not appear to be known in America, 

 although "Wilson evidently confounds it with the 

 American Strix acadeca) and the Strix passerina, L. 

 It differs from the little owl of Britain, in that its 

 toes are covered thickly with downy hair like 

 feathers, even to the very claws, and the tail 

 extends nearly an inch and a half beyond the 

 closed wings, whereas in the British bird it is 

 scarcely longer than the wings themselves. More- 

 over, in the little owl of Britain, the first wing 

 feather is equal in length to the sixth, the second 

 like to the fifth, the third longest. In the little 

 Swedish owl, the first is like the ninth, the second 

 like the sixth, the third and fourth the longest. 



I may add that the little British owl can hardly 

 be included in the Scandinavian fauna, only one 

 specimen having been taken, in a church in the 

 south of Sweden ; and although, according to Dr. 

 Bree, the lesser European sparrow owl is met with 

 in Switzerland and occasionally in the north of Ger- 

 many, I fancy Scandinavia is its proper home. 



Some confusion still exists in the identification 



