64 RAPACES. STRIX. Smooru-yHEADED Owts. 
verse bars of reddish-brown ; the shafts of the feathers 
being dark umber-brown. Quills buff-orange, barred 
with brown. ‘Tail barred alternately with wood and 
umber browns, except the middle feathers, which are 
plam wood-brown. Legs thickly clothed with downy 
feathers, of an ash-grey colour, speckled with brown. 
Claws long and sharp, greyish-black. 
Little Owl.—Strix passerina, Linz. 
PLATE 26. 
Strix passerina, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 133. 12.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 296. sp. 12.— 
Lath. Ind. Ornith. v. 1. p. 65. 46. 
Noctua minor, Raii, Syn. p. 26. 6.—Will. p. 69. t. 13.—Briss. 1. p. 514. 5. 
Chouette Chevéche, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. v. 1. p. 92. 
La Chevéche ou Petit Chouette, Buff: Ois. v. 1. p. 78. 
Strix nudipes, Nils. Orn. Suec. v. 1. p. 68. sp. 30. 
Kleiner-kauz, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. v. 2. p. 963.—Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 
v. 1. p 80.—Id. Vég. Liv. und. Esthl. p. 36.- 
Little Owl, Br. Zool. 1. No. 70.—Arct. Zool. 2. No. 126.—Lewin’s Brit. 
Birds, 1. t. 39.— Will. (Ang.) p. 105. t. 13.—Lath. Syn. 1. p. 150. 40.— 
Mont. Ornith Dict. and Supp.—Bewick’s Br. Birds and Supp. 
Occasional This diminutive species is only an occasional visitant in 
visitant. ‘England, and that but very rarely. 
The specimen from which the present figure is taken, was 
killed near Morpeth in Northumberland, in the autumn of 
1812. According to Temminck, it is never found in Eu- 
Foreign lo- rope beyond the 55th degree of north latitude; but in the 
cality. warmer regions of this quarter of the globe it is very com- 
Haunts. mon.—It inhabits ruins, church-towers, and similar old build- 
ings, and in such it also breeds. The eggs are four or five 
in number, of a round shape, and white, like those of most of 
the other species. It is of a wild and fierce disposition, and 
not capable of being tamed like the little horned or scops 
eared owl. It sometimes preys by day, and, from having 
been seen to pursue swallows, must be strong and rapid on 
the wing. Its prey consists of mice, small birds, and in- 
sects, 
