ATHENE NOCTUA. 
Little Owl. 
Strix noctua, Retz. Faun. Suec., p. 85. 
passerina, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. i. p. 65. 
Noctua passerina, Cuv. R^gn. Anira., edit. 1817, tom. i. p. 332. 
glaux, Savig. Descr. de I’Egypte, Hist. Nat., torn. i. p. 105. 
Athene noctua, Boie, Isis, 1826, p. 315. 
Strix nudipes et S. psilodactyla, Nilss. Orn. Suec., tom. i. p. 68, tab. 2. 
Athene psilodactyla, Brehm, Vdg. Deutschl., tom. i. p. 110. tab. 8. fig. 2, 
Scotophilus nudipes, Jard. Nat. Lib. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 274. 
Athene passerina, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 549. 
Cephaloptynx noctua, Kaup, Mon. Strig. in Jard. Cont. Orn., 1850, p. 105, 
Carine passerina, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst., p. 29. 
Syrnia psilodactyla, Macgill. Hist, of Brit. Birds, vol. iii. p. 417. 
Surnia noctua, Keys, et Bias. Wirbelth. Eur., p. 32. 
If this little Owl were indigenous to Britain instead of an accidental visitor, it would doubtless be a general 
favourite ; for its economy is interesting, and its manners somewhat singular. It is a very common bird, even 
so near to us as Holland, whence specimens in the flesh are frequently sent to the London markets, and, I fear, 
often palmed upon our collectors as British killed. On the continent of Europe it attracts especial notice 
by its habit of resorting to villages and towns, and taking up its abode in old ruins, church-steeples, and 
other lofty buildings. During the breeding-season, it is often seen flying about in the evening before the 
shades of night have closed in upon the day, and in the dawn before the sun has fairly risen. Its notes are 
singular and unearthly, so much so that it is regarded by superstitious persons as a bird of ill omen ; in the 
mind of the ornithologist no such feeling exists, and, as before stated, we should be pleased if its visits to 
this country were more frequent ; as it is, however, they have been sufficiently numerous to entitle it to rank 
among British birds, and there is at least one instance on record of its having bred with us. So far back as 
the time of Edwards, a specimen was caught in a chimney in London ; and Mr. Yarrell states that a second 
was taken about the same time in a similar situation in the parish of Lambeth ; and from that time until the 
present day instances of its having been shot in nearly every county are on record. Rennie saw one nailed 
to a barn-door in Wiltshire, doubtless with other spoils of a gamekeeper who regarded it as pertaining to his 
catalogue of “vermin and Mr. Hunt, in his ‘ British Ornithology,’ says, “ we recollect a nest of these birds 
being taken at no great distance from Norwich.” The most recent historian of the birds of Norfolk county 
(Mr. Stevenson) states that two examples have come under his notice — one taken alive at Easton in 1846, which 
lived in confinement till December 1848, and another captured on board a fishing-smack, about ten miles 
off Yarmouth, in February 1862. Mr. Bond bas a specimen which was shot at Sevenoaks, in Kent, in May 
the same year; Mr. E. H. Rodd, of the western county of Cornwall, records one killed near Helston, and 
two near Plymouth ; as yet, however, no example has been seen either in Scotland or Ireland. 
In Bailly’s ‘ Ornithology of Savoy’ it is stated that this species, “ instead of dwelling in the forests, evinces 
a preference for the ruins of old edifices, houses, towers, and abandoned chateaus, the steeples of churches 
and convents, and the hollow trees in their neighbourhood ; in such situations it breeds and |)asses the 
greater part of its life. Towards the end of March or April, the female lays four or five eggs on any soft 
deposit in a hole in a wall, or the inner timber of houses, and sometimes on the debris of roots, dried leaves 
and rags collected by the rats for their own use, but very rarely in the hollows of trees. The eggs, which are 
white, are of a rounded form, and a trifle larger than those of the Scops. The Little Owl being able to see in 
the daylight better than its congeners, hunts for its prey during the twilight of evening and on dull morn- 
ings in the woods around its residence, and when breeding is observed to go out earlier in the evening and 
to return later in the morning than other Owls. During autumn and winter, it is met with at those times in 
the hedges and on the trees bordering the roadside, and those which occur in the middle of fields and in the 
centre of towns and villages. When the ground is covered with snow, it approaches the farms, and lives upon 
the excrements of animals ; at this time it also enters isolated buildings, caverns of rocks, vaults of old 
castles, and other similar situations resorted to by rats and bats. From such places its voice, which is less 
hollow than that of most other Owls, is frequently heard to resound. The cry, which generally resembles the 
words /ime or eedm, is repeated several times in succession at intervals of two or three seconds, as one man 
calls to attract the attention of another. These cries, distinctly uttered in a strong voice during the shades 
of evening and in the stillness of the night, cause great alarm to those persons who are weak enough to 
