488 



SPECKLED DIVER. 



SPARROW OWL (Noctua passerina, Savigny.) 



*Strix passerina, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 133. 12. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 296. sp. 12. — Lath. 

 Ind. Orn. I. p. 65. 46 — Flem. Br. Anim. p. 58. — Noctua minor, Raii, Syn. p. 

 26. 6.— Will. p. 69. t. 13.— Briss. 1. p. 514. 5.— Chouette Cheveche, Temm. 



Alan. d'Orn. 1. p. 92 La Cheveche uu Petit Chouette, Buff. Ois. 1. p. 78.— 



Strix nudipes, Nils. Orn. Suec. 1. p. 68. sp. 30 Kleiner-kauz, Bechst. Naturg. 



Deut. 2. p. 963.— Meyer, Tasschenb. Deut. 1. p. 80.— Ib. Vdg. Liv. und. Esthl. 



p. 36.— Little Owl, Br. Zool. 1. No. 70 Arct. Zool. 2. No. 126 Lewin's Br. 



Birds, 1. t. 39 Will. (Angl.) p. 105. t. 13 Lath. Syn. 1. p. 150. 40.— Mont. 



Orn. Diet, and Supp. — Bewick's Br. Birds and Supp. — Selby, pi. 26. p. 64.* 



This elegant little species of owl is the smallest that has been found 

 in England. The length little more than eight inches ; size not much 

 superior to that of a blackbird ; the bill is dusky, with a yellowish tip ; 

 irides pale yellow ; the head and upper parts are brown, tinged with 

 olive ; the former, with the wing coverts, are spotted with white ; the 

 feathers that compose the circle round the face are white, tipped with 

 black ; under parts of the body white, spotted with brown ; the tail is 

 brown, barred transversely with rufous, and tipped with white ; but in 

 this part they are subject to vary, as Mr. Pennant and Dr. Latham both 

 say the tail is barred with white likewise ; the legs are covered with 

 down of a grey colour ; claws brown. Other varieties of this bird are 

 also spoken of with the colours darker, as well as the irides being 

 black. It is perhaps difficult to say what changes climate may produce. 

 We know that season alone, in the same country, effects extraordinary 

 changes ; but we have ever held the colour of the eyes as a characteristic 

 mark, which in adults never changes. It is true, many birds, before 

 they arrive at maturity, have dark irides, which afterwards become 

 yellow. This might be the case with the bird here mentioned. The 

 peregrine falcon has been taken with yellow irides, but for the first two 

 or three years they are dusky. A young herring gull, which we have 

 at this time, only begins to appear yellowish in that part at two years 

 and a half old. The eye, therefore, being subject to such a certain 

 change by age, must be considered as the effect of maturity when it 

 becomes of a lighter colour. 



The Sparrow Owl is a very rare species in England. In France it 

 is said to frequent ruined edifices. It makes a nest in the holes of 

 rocks and walls, and lays five or six eggs, spotted with yellowish and 

 white. It is said to fly by day, and to give chace to small birds ; but 

 its principal food is mice. It is said to build in chimneys in Carniola ; 

 and Mr. Edwards mentions two having been taken in England by 

 coming down chimneys. In 1808, one was shot by Mr. Comyns, in 

 North Devon. 



SPECKLED DIVER, — A name for the young Cobble. 



