130 OWL. 



to become an heavy fcourge to thofe parts which they ihfeftj 

 eating up all the corn. On this occafion it has happened, that 

 thefe Owls have arrived in large troops, and have attacked thofe 

 depredators fo fuccefsfully, as to deftroy the whole of them in 

 a lhort time*. 



16. Stryx Pulchella, Pallas Trav. vol. i. p. 456. N° 8. 



t? o ^ tr ' x ca P* te au " t0 > e Gente fua minima, &c. Nov. com. ac. Petrop. vol. xv„ 



PI. V*. fig. 1. p. 49°. t. 26. f. 1. 



Lev. Ma/. 



npHIS fpecies well deferves the name given to it by Dr. Pallas,, 

 as it is a mofE beautifully pencilled bird. I fhould think it 

 the leaft of all the fpecies hitherto known, being in length only 

 fix inches f; if any thing, rather lefs: the weight very little more 

 than one ounce. The head is lefs tumid than in the pajferina y 

 and fmaller in proportion, and above all, is remarkably eared. 

 Description. The bill is brown : the irides of a pale yellow : the eared fea- 

 thers above one inch in length : the circle of feathers which fur- 

 rounds the eyes is fmall, and above the eyes fcarcely perceivable ;. 

 towards the eyes is a white fpot : the body above is cinereous, 

 delicately powdered and undulated : the fhaft of each feather 

 brown -, beneath whitifh, with broad black fhafts, and fcattered 



* A remark of the fame kind is mentioned by Dak, after Childrey, to this 

 purport : " In the year 1580, at Hallontide, an army of mice fo over-run the 

 marfhes near South Minfier, that they eat up the grafs to the very roots; but at 

 length a great number of ftrange painted Owls came and devoured all the mice. 

 The like happened'in EJfex in 1648." Dale, Harwich, app. p. 397. note 2. 



Thefe noli have been one of our Eared Owls above-mentioned, and not the 

 Scops, as M, de Buffon thinks. 



f The Peter/burgh Tranfatlions fay above nine inches. 



10 here 



