Thursday, February 18, 2016

Is Pigwidgeon a little owl or a Little Owl?

Capitalization makes a difference.  Is Pigwidgeon a European Scops-Owl, as depicted by Mary Grandpre, or a Little Owl? J.K.Rowling described him as a “little owl,” but unless she consistently capitalized bird species names, we can’t be sure. Little Owls do not have the feather tufts that scops owls do.


1 comment:

katty Geltmeyer said...

The trouble is, Rowling mentioned on her old website in the piece about owls, that Pig is a scops. But on Pottermore she tells that he's a Little Owl. If she's not sure about the species, how could the readers be sure of it? If Rowling had used the Latin names for the species (Otus Scops" for scops, ... besides the English names, we could determinate the species.