126 LEAST EUROPEAN SPARROW OWL. 



bird not known in Europe, and named, as Mr. Newton 

 suggests, after its habitat Acadie, that is, Nova Scotia. 

 I think then I have good reason for restoring Daudin's 

 name, while at the same time I fully admit the priority 

 of Linnseus, and regret the necessity which the erroneous 

 designation of previous writers has forced upon me. 



There are several "Little Owls" which may, more or 

 less, be confounded with each other. I will briefly 

 notice some of these, so that the ground may be cleared, 

 I trust, of all obscurity or doubt: — 



8. pusilla. — The subject of the present notice, and 

 the synonymy of which I have given at length above. 

 The 8. passerina of Linnaeus. , 



S. psilodactyla of Linnseus, Brehm, and Degland; the 

 8. passerina of Gmelin, Latham, Meyer, Wolff, Tem- 

 minck, Vieillot, Schinz, and the English authors. 8. 

 noctua of Retzius and Schlegel. Noctua passerina of 

 Cuvier, and the Athene noctua of Gray. This bird, the 

 Little Owl of the English lists, is readily distinguished 

 from 8. pasila by its greater size, shorter tail, different 

 disposition of colours, and by the shortness of the 

 feathers on the tarsi, and the substitution of down for 

 feathers on the toes. It is figured by Edwards, Lewin, 

 Gould, Yarrell, and others. It is fully one third larger 

 than pusilla. 



8. acadica of Gmelin, and 8. acadiensis of Latham. 

 A North American species, well figured by Wilson in 

 his "American Birds," and afterwards by Audubon, 

 pi. 199. Figured also by Latham in his "General 

 Synopsis," vol. i., pi. 5, fig. ii. ; and described at 

 length by Swainson, in the "Fauna Boreali Americana," 

 Birds, p. 97, in which its distinction from any of the 

 European species is clearly established. This is the 

 Nyctale acadica of Bonaparte, and of Gray's list; it 



