THE LITTLE OWLS. 
91 
I. THE LITTLE OWL. CARINE NOCTUA. 
Strix nodua. Scop. Ann. i. p. 22 (1769). 
Syrnia psilodadyla, Macgill. Br. B. iii. p. 417 (1840). 
Caritie nodua. Newt. ed. Yarr. Br. B. i. p. 178 (1872)5 Sharpe, 
Cat. B. Brit. Mus. i. p. 133 (1875). 
Nodua nodua, Seebohm, Br. B. i. p. 174 (1883). 
Athene nodua. Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 357, pi. 317 (1871), 
B. O. U. List Br. B. p. 9T (1883); Lill'ord, Col. Eig. Br. B. 
part iii. (1886); Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 291 (1889). 
{PlaU xxxvn.) 
Adult Female. — Size small. Brown, with oval white spots, more 
or less concealed by the feathers of the upper-parts ; quills 
brown, notched with white on the outer web, and barred with 
white on the inner one; upper tail-covcrts brown, barred with 
white; tail-feathers brown, tipped with whitish, and crossed 
with four bands of wliity-brown ; head brown, streaked with 
triangular spots of white ; a patch of white on the nape ; face 
white, the ear-coverts marked with brown ; under surface of 
body white, with a band of brown across the fore-neck, the 
breast and abdomen streaked with brown, the flanks with a 
few brown bars ; under tail-coverts streaked with brown ; quills 
brown below, spotted on the outer webs, and barred on the 
inner webs with yellowish-white; bill yellow, slightly tinged 
with greenish ; feet greyish-yellow ; iris yellow. Total length, 
1 1 '5 inches; wing, 67; tail, 3'5 ; tarsus, i’3. 
Adult Male. — Similar in colour to the female, but a trifle 
smaller. Total length, 8-5 inches ; wing, 6-o ; tail, 3-0; tarsus, 
I'l. 
Young Birds. — More dingily coloured than the adults, and 
more broadly streaked on the under surface ; the white mark- 
ings on the upper surface rather more distinctly indicated. 
Eange in Great Britain. — An accidental visitor to England 
only, not having, as yet, been recorded from Scotland or 
Ireland. The Little Owl is so often kept in confinement that 
escaped specimens cannot be rare, and consequently it is very 
difficult to say whether an occurrence of the species in Eng- 
land is due to an accidental visit from the Continent, or 
whether the individual in question has escaped from confine- 
