example, was purchased at a poulterer’s shop in London in 1836, in which year a third was killed in Kent •
a fourth was shot at Hunmanby, near Scarborough, the seat o f my excellent old friend Admiral Mitford in
1847, and the fifth near Marsden, in the county of Durham, in 1848; the only Scottish example was killed
a t Spinningdale, in Sutherlandshire, in May 1847. For the knowledge o f a sixth British example I am indebted
to the kindness of the Rev. George Weare Braikenridge, who sent me the following extract from a
letter addressed to him by Charles Edwards, Esq., of the Grove, Wrington, Somersetshire :— “ The Teng-
malm’s Owl in my collection was killed at Winscombe, on the north side of the Mendip Hills, about six miles
from hence, in the winter of 1859-60; and I had it in the flesh the same day from the person who shot it.
Two were seen ; but although I offered for the second, it could not be procured.”
Bailly, in his ‘ Ornithologie de la Savoie,’ says, “ Tengmalm’s Owl inhabits the more thickly wooded districts
of Switzerland, especially those of the Valais and the lower part of the J u r a ; and that it is also common in the
northern parts o f Savoy, particularly in the thick woods o f larch and fir in the neighbourhood of Albertville, the
whole of the Tarentaise, the Maurienne, and Chamounix, and remains there all the year round. I t does not affect
old buildings and the interior o f towers, like the L ittle Owl, but prefers the solitude o f the thick woods o f the
mountains, particularly those in which it can find old and hollow pine trees wherein it may hide itself durin«-
the day, and the female deposit her eggs. There it continues to dwell all the summer, the greatest part of
autumn, and, whenever the weather may continue mild, the greater part of winter. At all times, but especially
when it has its young to feed, it kills great numbers o f the smaller birds, such as warblers, tits
&c., which abound in the thick woods spoken of. I t pairs a t the end o f March or the beginning
o f April; but the eggs are not laid until early in May in the woods or the middle p art o f the
mountains, and not until the 5th or 10th o f June in the more recluse forests. The eggs, which are
four or five in number, are placed on the rotten dust a t the bottom of a hole in a tree, a fir tree being generally
preferred ; they are o f a dull white, stained occasionally with the hue o f the damp material on which
they are laid. The bird does not quit the mountain forests until snow and the intensity o f the cold has
compelled the small birds upon which it feeds to seek more genial localities ; it then roves about a t night
in the woods of the low hills and plains, and in dull weather may be seen fluttering about a t midday.
Besides birds it devours insects, particularly beetles, grasshoppers, the sphinx, and other large twilight-
loving moths, lizards, and slugs, which it finds among grass, bushes, and stones, and on small quadrupeds
frogs and their spawn, and terrestrial mollusea, which it hunts for in the fields, meadows, and fens. I t is
easily domesticated, if it be not allowed to suffer from hunger. One kept by Mr. Thabuis, a t Moutiers, in
1852, evinced a great partiality for Helix pomatia, H hortensis, and several other mollusks when given fresh,
and preferred them to pieces of raw meat.”
Mr. Wolley obtained eggs of this bird during his stay in Lapland. Some o f them were found in tyllas, i. e.
the egg-boxes set up by the inhabitants for the use of the Golden-eyed D uck and other aquatic birds ; while
others were taken from a hole made by the Black Woodpecker, Picus martim, in a Scotch fir, a t about seven
or eight feet from the ground.
I t has been remarked by Wheelwright that whenever this Owl has appeared during autumn in the very
south of Sweden a severe winter has always followed. It occupies in the Quickiock forest precisely the
same range as the Hawk Owl, and we never saw one on the fell sides higher than the fir region. It is a
bold voracious b ird ; one night I shot a female in full chase after lemming on a frozen lake ; and another
female, which I caught on her eggs in Wermland and placed in a fishing-creel, had, by the time I reached
home, nearly devoured a tit-mouse I had thrown in. I kept this bird for a long time in a c a g e ; she became
very tame, and was a very pretty little.pet. The call-note is a very musical soft whistle, never heard except
in the evening and night. I could never detect the slightest difference.
" Next to the Hawk Owl, Tengmalm's is the commonest species found in the Lapland forests; but,
being much more nocturnal in its habits, is not so often seen ; not that the light appears to affect its
vision, for there the summer nights are as light as day; and we rarely went into the forest any night
without seeing this pretty little Owl hawking after its prey. Its eggs vary much in shape, but not so
much in size. In the same hole yon will find some as round as musket-balls, others oval and elongated.
The usual size is about 11 by 1 inch. This species has a much more southern range than the Hawk Owl,
for we not unfrequently take eggs in Wermland; but, strange to say, they are met with only about every
third year.”
The Plate represents the bird o f the natural size, with a Harvest Mouse (Mus messorhts) in its bill.