304 



LITTLE HORNED OWL. 



tail wholly white and even at the end. The bill is said to be reddish 

 brown ; irides bluish ; leg's red. 



The little knowledge we have had communicated to us of the habits 

 of this bird, would not have led us to the discovery of the specimen in 

 question, had we not previously ascertained the changes in plumage to 

 which all our gulls are subject. Taking, for example, the several mu- 

 tations, we should now have no difficulty of identifying the Little Gull 

 through all its several changes from the time of its leaving the nest, by 

 comparative reasoning. The second material change is, without doubt, 

 a good exemplification of the alteration in plumage of the Little Gull. 

 In this state of plumage we have sufficient marks left to inform us what 

 were its infantine colours, and also what it is in a progressive state of 

 acquiring. The markings of these two species are very similar, but 

 where the feathers are brown in one they are black in the other. From 

 the appearance of the black on the wings, the back under the scapulars, 

 and the tertials, we cannot hesitate to pronounce that the Little Gull is 

 in its first feathers of a very dark colour, probably dusky black, mixed 

 with grey, similar in markings to that of almost all others of our well- 

 known species, only that their feathers are brown and grey. The 

 dusky appearance of the crown of the head, and particularly the black 

 spot on the coverts of the ears, are true indications of a future black 

 head, evinced by similar markings on the black-headed gull ; and the 

 black bar at the end of the tail is an invariable character of immaturity 

 in all the well-known species of the gull tribe. 



We have been more particular in noticing these characteristic marks 

 of change, in order that this elegant little species may be identified in 

 any state of plumage, since it is at present so little known. 



Its native country appears to be the southern parts of Siberia and 

 Russia, and the shores of the Caspian Sea, migrating more northward in 

 summer in order to breed, especially up to the Wolga.* 



LITTLE HORNED OWL (Scops Aldrovandi, Ray.) 



*Strix Scops, Linn. Syst. 1.. p. 129 Gmel. Syst. p. 290 Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 



56 — Strix zorca et Giu, lb. 1. p. 56. 16. 16 — Scops Aldrovandi, Eaii, Syn. p. 

 25 — Will.'?. 65. t. 12.— Le Scops, ou Petit Due, Buf.Oh. 1. p. 353. t. 24.— 

 PI. Enl. 436.— Hibou Scops, Temm. Man. d'Orn. l.p. 107.— Kleine ohreule, 



Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 2. p. 912 Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 74. — Le petit 



Due, Briss. Orn. 1. p. 495. t. 37. f. 1 lb. 8vo. p. 44 — Little Hern-Owl, 



Will. Orn. p. 101. t. 12.— Scops Eared-Owl, Lath. Syn. 1. p. 129.— Ib. Supp. 

 1. p. 43.— Mont. Orn. Diet Bewick's Br. Birds lb. Supp. 



It is with pleasure we have to announce this species of Owl, as 

 having been occasionally shot in Great Britain within these few years, 

 upon the undoubted authority of Mr. Foljambe, of Osberton, an accu- 

 rate ornithologist, who assures us that he has a specimen in his collec- 



