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. 1. 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.— Chouelte Cheveche, Temm. 
Man. d’Orn. 1,'p. 92. — La Cheveche ou Petit Chouette, 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.— iSeZi^/, 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, 
