VULTTTRID^. 91 



Genus ATHENE, Boie, Isis, 1823, p. 549. 



Athene = 'AS^i/i/, the goddesa of wisdom, to whom the Owl was held sacred. 



Athene noctua. Little Owl. 

 Strix noctua, Scopoli, Ann. I. Hist.-Nat. p. 23 (1769). 



Strix noctua, Naum. i. p. 493. 



Symia psilodactyla, Macg. iii. p. 417. 



Noctua nudipes, Hewitson, p. 67. 



Athene noctua. Gray, p. 31 ; Gould, i. pi. 37 ; Harting, p. 91 ; 



Dresser, v. p. 357. 

 Noctua passerina, Yarr. ed. 2, i. p. 149 ; id. ed. 3, i. p. 158. 

 Carina noctua, Newton, i. p. 178. 

 The Little Owl, Yarr. ed. 1, i. p. 143. 



Noctua = a night Owl, in classical Latin ; from nox = night. 



An inhabitant of Southern and Central Europe and Asia 

 Minor ; a scarce occasional visitant to England ; not yet met 

 with in Scotland or Ireland. 



Order ACCIPITBE8. 



Family VULTURID.^. 



Genus GYPS, Savigny, Syst. Ois. de TEgypte, p. 8 (1810). 



Oyps = yv\p, a Vulture in classical Greek ; perhaps an Egyptian word. 



Gyps ftQvus. Geiffon Vultuee. 



Vultur fulvus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 249 (1788). 



Vultur fulvus, Naum. i. p. 162 ; Hewitson, p. 3 ; Yarr. ed. 3, 



i. p. 1; id. ed. 3, i. p. 1. 

 Gyps fulvus. Gray, p. 2 ; Newton, i. p. 1 ; Harting, p. 83 ; 

 Dresser, v. p. 373. 

 Fulvus = tawny. 



Inhabits Southern Europe, North Africa, and Central Asia, 

 as far west as Turkestan. Once obtained in Ireland. 



