154 STRIGID A. 
close examination by the more thick, and downy character 
of the plumage, and by the length and abundance of the 
feathers covering its short legs and toes, indicating the 
natural defence against a low temperature afforded to a 
bird that is an inhabitant of high northern latitudes. It 
has no doubt been frequently mistaken for the Little Owl, 
and probably obtained in this country more frequently 
than it has been recorded; since, according to M. Tem- 
minck, the Little Owl figured by Pennant in the folio 
plates illustrating the first edition of his British Zoology, 
though called passerina, is in reality a female of Tengmalmi. 
My. Selby has in his collection a specimen killed at Mor- 
peth in Northumberland, in 1812. In 1836, a specimen 
recently shot was purchased in a poulterer’s shop in Lon- 
don; and in May of the same year, Mr. John Lead- 
beater of Brewer-street received a specimen for preserva- 
tion which had been shot in Kent. There can be no 
doubt, therefore, of the propriety of including this species 
in a History of British Birds. 
This little Owl inhabits thick forests in Norway, Sweden, 
Russia, and Germany; occasionally in France, and the 
northern parts of Italy; but is in no country so abundant 
asin North America, where, according to Dr. Richardson, it 
has a wide range, including all the woody country from 
Great Slave Lake to the United States, but is most plen- 
tiful on the banks of the Saskatchewan. “It is strictly 
nocturnal in its habits, and is so much dazzled by the 
light of the sun, when it accidentally wanders abroad in 
the day, as to become stupid; and it may then be easily 
caught by the hand. Its cry in the night is a single me- 
lancholy note, repeated at intervals of a minute or two; 
and it is one of the superstitious practices of the Indians 
to whistle when they hear it. If the bird is silent when 
