i5 8 
0 WLS. 
year, and cleaned out and repaired when necessary. The burrows, according to 
Captain Bendire, vary from live to ten feet in depth, and are usually about five 
inches in diameter; the nesting-chamber being, however, from twelve to fifteen 
inches across. Frequently the burrow is much curved, so that the nest may lie 
within a couple of feet off the surface; at times the nest is lined with grass or 
feathers, but more generally with cow-dung. Seven to nine is the usual number 
of eggs, but there may be as few as six or as many as eleven. Both sexes assist 
in incubation; and, unless the eggs be taken, but a single clutch is laid in a 
season. In defence of their eggs and young, these little owls exhibit determined 
ferocity; retreating to the ends of their burrows, and striking out at the intruder 
with beak and claws. 
Although the name little owl, or owlet, is of course equivalent 
to pigmy owl, yet it is convenient to restrict the latter term to the 
members of the genus Glaucidium, and the former to those of the present genus. 
As already mentioned, the little owls are frequently confounded with the pigmy 
owls; but the two differ essentially in that the former have a long and the latter a 
short first primary quill. The little owls differ from the burrowing owl in that 
both the fourth and fifth primaries have their outer webs deeply scalloped, and 
also in having the upper part of the metatarsus hidden by feathers, and the base 
of the toes enveloped in the plumage of the metatarsus, their legs thus appearing 
very short. In having the nostrils pierced near the front of the cere, they are 
distinguished from an allied Indian owl known as Heteroglaux, in which the 
nostrils occupy the middle of the cere. The wings are large, with the third and 
fourth quills of nearly equal length; and the head is large and round. The five 
species of this genus range from Europe and North Africa across Central Asia 
to China, and also from the Mediterranean countries across Persia to India and 
Burma. The common little owl (Carine noctua ) is about the same size as 
Tengmalm’s owl—from which it may be at once distinguished by its compact 
plumage,—and is an occasional straggler to the Bi'itish Isles. The general colour 
of the upper-parts is brown mottled with oval white spots; the facial disc being 
greyish white, passing into brown externally, while the greater portion of the 
under surface is whitish streaked with brown; each feather on this aspect having 
a dark median line and light edges. This form is found all over continental Europe 
except the extreme north, but its extreme eastern limits are not yet fully known. 
A desert-hunting variety or species ( C . glcmx) differs by its paler coloration, the 
ground-colour of the upper-parts being rufous fawn, while the under surface is pure 
white streaked with rufous. Moreover, while in one form the toes are but scantily 
covered with hair-like feathers, in another they are thickly plumed. The pale 
desert form of the little owl inhabits the countries to the south of the Mediter¬ 
ranean, except near Tangiers (where the ordinary form occurs); and it also ranges 
into North-Eastern Africa, and extends eastwards into Persia, India, and Afghanistan. 
The ordinary form is the commonest owl in Italy, and is also common in Sicily, 
although there it is migratory. It breeds in Italy, Gibraltar, Spain, Greece, and 
Holland. Professor Newton observes that “the little owl is not strictly nocturnal 
in its habits, for one observer has seen it, at midday, when the sun was shining 
brightly, carry off* a sparrow from a flock; but, as a rule, towards the evening it 
