482 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Of course these were still attended to by the foster-birds, but whether the 

 crying was for food or on account of the cold, I cannot say. Perhaps both. 

 It might be surmised that the cold would awaken the appetite, provided it 

 did not interfere with the health of the bird ; and it is also probable that 

 certain forms of insects were not so easily available in cold as in warm 

 weather. There was a young one flying about on Aug. 10th, with a foster- 

 bird in attendance; this being the latest date on which I saw them. The 

 whole of the foster-birds were Mountain Linnets (Linota flavirostris). — 

 Wm. Wilson (Alford, N.B.). 



The Little Owl in Flintshire ? — In collecting materials for a fauna of 

 North Wales, I have lately had occasion to look into old records as far back 

 as the beginning of the century. One of the problems presented for solution 

 was this — Has the Little Owl (Carine noctua) ever been obtained in North 

 Wales ? Yarrell and Morris mention it as having occurred in Flintshire, 

 but give no particulars. Montagu, writing of it under the title of the 

 Sparrow-Owl (Noctua passerina, Savigny), notices that the descriptions of 

 plumage given by various authors show many discrepancies. He did not, 

 apparently, perceive that three species had been confounded together under 

 the title of Little Owl. These we now know as Carine noctua and Nyctala 

 tengmalmi ; the third— the form called Strix passerina by Linnaeus— has 

 never occurred in Britain. Traced to its source, the statement that Carine 

 noctua has occurred in Flintshire appears to rest on the testimony of Pen- 

 nant. Let us see what he says. In his ' Tour in Wales,' speaking of the 

 detached hundred of Maelor in Flintshire, he states that that rare British 

 species, the Little Owl, had been taken in some woods near Overton. In 

 his ' British Zoology,' 1812, p. 270, he states, in general terms, the Little 

 Owl (Strix passerina) " is sometimes found in Yorkshire, Flintshire, and 

 also near London." The allusion to Flintshire probably refers to the 

 Overton bird. Later writers have copied this statement without question. 

 I think, however, that the description given by Pennant indicates that the 

 bird was Nyctala tengmalmi, not the species now known as the Little Owl 

 (Carine noctua). The editor of the fourth edition of ' Yarrell ' was also of 

 this opinion, for on p. 155 he writes: — " The 'Little Owl' figured in the 

 folio edition of Pennant's ' British Zoology ' was probably of this species " 

 [IV. tengmalmi]. Yet on p. 179 he still speaks of the Little Owl as having 

 occurred in Flintshire. If it could be proved that Pennant's Overton Owl 

 was Carine noctua, the much-debated question as to the admission of the 

 Little Owl to the British list might be considered settled ; at that period 

 it is unlikely that it could have been an escaped or imported bird. Now, 

 to sum up the evidence. So far as we know only one Little Owl has been 

 obtained in North Wales. (Dr. Dobie records another at Gresford, but 

 suggests a doubt as to species.) That one was apparently Nyctala teng- 



