RAPTORES. STRIG1D/E.
TENGMALM’S OWL.
Noctua Tengmalmi, Tengmalm’s Owl, S elby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 105.
,, „ ,, ,, J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 94.
Syrnium ,, ,, ,, E yton, Rare Brit. Birds, p. 90.
Noctua ,, ,, ,, Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. xviii.
Strix ,, Chouette Tengmalm, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 94.
T h i s prettily marked Owl was clearly distinguished from
the S tr ix passerina of authors by Dr. Tengmalm, an able
Ornithologist, who resided near Stockholm, and who applied
to it the name of S tr ix noctua ; but this name appears to
have been changed by Gmelin to that of S trix Tengmalmi,
in compliment to its early describer.
Though similar in size and general appearance to the Little
Owl last figured, it will at once be distinguished on close
examination by the more thick, soft, and downy character of
the plumage, and by the length and abundance of the feathers
covering its short legs and toes, indicating the natural
defence against a low temperature afforded to a bird that is
an inhabitant of high northern latitudes. I t has no doubt
been frequently mistaken for the Little Owl, and probably
obtained in this country more frequently than it has been
recorded; since, according to M. Temminck, the Little Owl
figured by Pennant in the folio plates illustrating the first
edition of his British Zoology, though called passerina, is
in reality a female of Tengmalmi. Mr. Selby has in his
collection a specimen killed at Morpeth in Northumberland,
in 1812. In 1886, a specimen recently shot was purchased in
a poulterer’s shop in London; and in May of the same year,
Mr. John Leadbeater of Brewer-street received a specimen
for preservation which had been shot in Kent. There can be
no doubt, therefore, of the propriety of including this species
in a History of British Birds.
This little Owl inhabits thick forests in Norway, Sweden,
Russia, and Germany; occasionally in France, and the
northern parts of Ita ly ; but is in no country so abundant as
in North America, where, according to Dr. Richardson, it
has a wide range, including all the woody country from Great
Slave Lake to the United States, but is most plentiful on
the banks of the Saskatchewan. “ It is strictly nocturnal in
its habits, and is so much dazzled by the light of the sun,
when it accidentally wanders abroad in the day, as to become
stupid; and it may then be easily caught by the hand. Its
cry in the night is a single melancholy note, repeated at intervals
of a minute or two ; and it is one of the superstitious
practices of the Indians to whistle when they hear it. I f the
bird is silent when thus challenged, the speedy death of the
inquirer is augured; hence its Cree appellation of Death-
bird.” According to Mr. Hutchins, it builds a nest of grass
half way up a pine-tree, and lays two eggs in the month of
L