Chapter II: Appendix: I. Additions and Corrections 499 (2)

_Strix brachyotus_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. 289, 1789.—FORST. Phil. Trans.
LXII, 384.—WILS. Am. Orn. pl. xxxiii, f. 3.—AUD. Birds Am. pl.
ccccxxxii, 1831.—IB. Orn. Biog. V, 273.—RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A. II,
75.—BONAP. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 37.—THOMPS. N. H. Vermont, p. 66.—PEAB.
Birds Mass. p. 89. _Ulula brachyotus_, JAMES. (WILS.), Am. Orn. I,
106, 1831.—NUTT. Man. 132. _Otus brachyotus_, (STEPH.) JARD. (WILS.),
Am. Orn. II, 63, 1832.—PEALE, U. S. Expl. Exp. VIII, 75.—KAUP, Monog.
Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, 114.—IB. Tr. Zoöl. Soc. IV, 1859, 236.—HUDSON,
P. Z. S. 1870, 799 (habits). _Asio brachyotus_, STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I,
259, 1855. _Otus brachyotus americanus_, MAX. Cab. Jour. II, 1858, 27.
_Brachyotus palustris_, BONAP. List. 1838, p. 7.—RIDGW. in COUES, Key,
1872, 204. _Otus palustris_, (DARW.) DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 28, pl.
xii, f. 27, 1844. _Brachyotus palustris americanus_, BONAP. Consp. Av.
p. 51, 1849. _Brachyotus cassini_, BREWER, Pr. Boston Soc. N. H.—NEWB.
P. R. Rep’t, VI, IV, 76.—HEERM. do. VII, 34, 1857.—CASSIN (in BAIRD)
Birds N. Am. 1858, 54.—COOP. & SUCKL. P. R. Rep’t, XII, ii, 155,
1860.—COUES, P. A. N. S. (Prod. Orn. Ariz.) 1866, 14.—GRAY, Hand List,
I, 51, 1869. _Brachyotus galopagoensis_, GOULD, P. Z. S. 1837, 10.
_Otus galopagoensis_, DARW. Zool. Beag. pt. iii, p. 32, pl. iii.—GRAY,
Gen. fol. sp. 3; List Birds Brit. Mus. 108.—BONAP. Consp. 51. _Asio
galopagoensis_, STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 211.

SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Ground-color of the head, neck, back, scapulars, rump, and lower parts, pale ochraceous; each feather (except on the rump) with a medial longitudinal stripe of blackish-brown,—these broadest on the scapulars; on the back, nape, occiput, and jugulum, the two colors about equal; on the lower parts, the stripes grow narrower posteriorly, those on the abdomen and sides being in the form of narrow lines. The flanks, legs, anal region, and lower tail-coverts are always perfectly immaculate; the legs most deeply ochraceous, the lower tail-coverts nearly pure white. The rump has obsolete crescentic marks of brownish. The wings are variegated with the general dusky and ochraceous tints, but the markings are more irregular; the yellowish in form of indentations or confluent spots, approaching the shafts from the edge,—broadest on the outer webs. Secondaries crossed by about five bands of ochraceous, the last terminal; primary coverts plain blackish-brown, with one or two poorly defined transverse series of ochraceous spots on the basal portion. Primaries ochraceous on the basal two-thirds, the terminal portion clear dark brown, the tips (broadly) pale brownish-yellowish, this becoming obsolete on the longest; the dusky extends toward the bases, in three to five irregularly transverse series of quadrate spots on the outer webs, leaving, however, a large basal area of plain ochraceous,—this somewhat more whitish anteriorly. The ground-color of the tail is ochraceous,—this becoming whitish exteriorly and terminally,—crossed by five broad bands (about equalling the ochraceous, but becoming narrower toward outer feathers) of blackish-brown; on the middle feathers, the ochraceous spots enclose smaller, central transverse spots of blackish; the terminal ochraceous band is broadest.

Eyebrows, lores, chin, and throat soiled white, the loral bristles with black shafts; face dingy ochraceous-white, feathers with darker shafts; eye broadly encircled with black. Post-orbital circle minutely speckled with pale ochraceous and blackish, except immediately behind the ear, where for about an inch it is uniform dusky.

Lining of the wing immaculate delicate yellowish-white; terminal half of under primary coverts clear blackish-brown; under surface of primaries plain delicate ochraceous-white; ends, and one or two very broad anterior bands, dusky.

♂ (906, Carlisle, Penn.). Wing-formula, 2–1, 3. Wing, 11.80; tail, 5.80; culmen, .60; tarsus, 1.75; middle toe, 1.20.

_Otus brachyotus._]

_Otus brachyotus._]

♀ (1,059, Dr. Elliot Coues’s collection, Washington, D. C.). Wing-formula, 2–3–1–4. Wing, 13.00; tail, 6.10; culmen, .65; tarsus, 1.80; middle toe, 1.20.

HAB. Entire continent and adjacent islands of America; also Europe, Asia, Africa, Polynesia, and Sandwich Islands.

Localities: Oaxaca (SCL. P. Z. S. 1859, 390); Cuba (CAB. Journ. III, 465; GUNDL. Rept. 1865, 225, west end); Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 50); Brazil (PELZ. Orn. Bras. I, 10); Buenos Ayres (SCL. & SALV. P. Z. S. 1868, 143); Chile (PHILIPPI, Mus. S. I.).

In view of the untangible nature of the differences between the American and European Short-eared Owls (seldom at all appreciable, and when appreciable not constant), we cannot admit a difference even of race between them. In fact, this species seems to be the only one of the Owls common to the two continents in which an American specimen cannot be distinguished from the European. The average plumage of the American representative is a shade or two darker than that of European examples; but the lightest specimens I have seen are several from the Yukon region in Alaska, and one from California (No. 6,888, Suisun Valley).

Not only am I unable to appreciate any tangible differences between European and North American examples, but I fail to detect characters of the least importance whereby these may be distinguished from South American and Sandwich Island specimens (“_galopagoensis_, Gould,” and “_sandwichensis_, Blox.”). Only two specimens, among a great many from South America (Paraguay, Buenos Ayres, Brazil, etc.), are at all distinguishable from Northern American. These two (Nos. 13,887 and 13,883, Chile) are somewhat darker than others, but not so dark as No. 16,029, ♀, from Fort Crook, California. A specimen from the Sandwich Islands (No. 13,890) is nearly identical with these Chilean birds, the only observable difference consisting in a more blackish forehead, and in having just noticeable dark shaft-lines on the lower tail-coverts.

In the geographical variations of this species it is seen that the average plumage of North American specimens is just appreciably darker than that of European, while tropical specimens have a tendency to be still darker. I know of no bird so widely distributed which varies so little in the different parts of its habitat, unless it be the _Cotyle riparia_, which, however, is not found so far to the south. The difference, in this case, between the American and European birds, does not correspond at all to that between the two easily distinguished races of _Otus vulgaris_, _Nyctale tengmalmi_, _Surnia ulula_, and _Syrnium cinereum_.

A specimen from Porto Rico (No. 39,643) is somewhat remarkable on account of the prevalence of the dusky of the upper parts, the unusually few and narrow stripes of the same on the lower parts, the roundish ochraceous spots on the wings, and in having the primaries barred to the base. Should all other specimens from the same region agree in these characters, they might form a diagnosable race. The plumage has an abnormal appearance, however, and I much doubt whether others like it will ever be taken.

HABITS. The Short-eared Owl appears to be distributed, in varying frequency, throughout North America, more abundant in the Arctic regions during the summer, and more frequently met with in the United States during the winter months. Richardson met with it throughout the fur countries as far to the north as the 67th parallel. Professor Holböll gives it as a bird of Greenland, and it was met with in considerable abundance by MacFarlane in the Anderson River district. Mr. Murray mentions a specimen received from the wooded district between Hudson’s Bay and Lake Winnipeg. Captain Blakiston met with it on the coast of Hudson’s Bay, and Mr. Bernard Ross on the Mackenzie River.

Mr. Dresser speaks of it as common at times near San Antonio during the winter months, keeping itself in the tall weeds and grass. It is given by Dr. Gundlach as an occasional visitant of Cuba.

Dr. Newberry met with it throughout Oregon and California, and found it especially common in the Klamath Basin. On the level meadow-like prairies of the Upper Pitt River it was seen associating with the Marsh Hawk in considerable numbers. It was generally concealed in the grass, and rose as the party approached. He afterwards met with this bird on the shores of Klamath Lake, and in the Des Chutes Basin, among grass and sage-bushes, in those localities associated with the Burrowing Owl (_A. hypogæa_). In Washington Territory it was found by Dr. Cooper on the great Spokane Plain, where, as elsewhere, it was commonly found in the long grass during the day. In fall and winter it appeared in large numbers on the low prairies of the coast, but was not gregarious. Though properly nocturnal, it was met with, hunting on cloudy days, flying low over the meadows, in the manner of the Marsh Hawk. He did not meet with it in summer in the Territory.

Dr. Heermann found it abundant in the Suisun and Napa valleys of California, in equal numbers with the _Strix pratincola_. It sought shelter during the day on the ground among the reeds, and, when startled from its hiding-place, would fly but a few yards and alight again upon the ground. It did not seem wild or shy. He afterwards met with the same species on the desert between the Tejon Pass and the Mohave River, and again saw it on the banks of the latter. Richardson gives it as a summer visitant only in the fur countries, where it arrives as soon as the snow disappears, and departs again in September. A female was killed May 20 with eggs nearly ready for exclusion. The bird was by no means rare, and, as it frequently hunted for its prey in the daytime, was often seen. Its principal haunts appeared to be dense thickets of young pines, or dark and entangled willow-clumps, where it would sit on a low branch, watching assiduously for mice. When disturbed, it would fly low for a short distance, and then hide itself in a bush, from whence it was not easily driven. Its nest was said to be on the ground, in a dry place, and formed of withered grass. Hutchins is quoted as giving the number of its eggs as ten or twelve, and describing them as round. The latter is not correct, and seven appears to be their maximum number.

Mr. Downes speaks of it as very rare in Nova Scotia, but Elliott Cabot gives it as breeding among the islands in the Bay of Fundy, off the coast, where he found several nests. It was not met with by Professor Verrill in Western Maine, but is found in other parts of the State. It is not uncommon in Eastern Massachusetts, where specimens are frequently killed and brought to market for sale, and where it also breeds in favorable localities on the coast. Mr. William Brewster met with it on Muskeget, near Nantucket, where it had been breeding, and where it was evidently a resident, its plumage having become bleached by exposure to the sun, and the reflected light of the white sand of that treeless island. It is not so common in the interior, though Mr. Allen gives it as resident, and rather common, near Springfield. Dr. Wood found it breeding in Connecticut, within a few miles of Hartford.

Dr. Coues gives it as a resident species in South Carolina, and Mr. Allen also mentions it, on the authority of Mr. Boardman, as quite common among the marshes of Florida. Mr. Audubon also speaks of finding it so plentiful in Florida that on one occasion he shot seven in a single morning. They were to be found in the open prairies of that country, rising from the tall grass in a hurried manner, and moving in a zigzag manner, as if suddenly wakened from a sound sleep, and then sailing to some distance in a direct course, and dropping among the thickest herbage. Occasionally the Owl would enter a thicket of tangled palmettoes, where with a cautious approach it could be taken alive. He never found two of these birds close together, but always singly, at distances of from twenty to a hundred yards; and when two or more were started at once, they never flew towards each other.

Mr. Audubon met with a nest of this Owl on one of the mountain ridges in the great pine forest of Pennsylvania, containing four eggs nearly ready to be hatched. They were bluish-white, of an elongated form, and measured 1.50 inches in length and 1.12 in breadth. The nest, made in a slovenly manner with dry grasses, was under a low bush, and covered over with tall grass, through which the bird had made a path. The parent bird betrayed her presence by making a clicking noise with her bill as he passed by; and he nearly put his hand on her before she would move, and then she hopped away, and would not fly, returning to her nest as soon as he left the spot. The pellets disgorged by the Owl, and found near her nest, were found to consist of the bones of small quadrupeds mixed with hair, and the wings of several kinds of coleopterous insects.

This bird was found breeding near the coast of New Jersey by Mr. Krider; and at Hamilton, Canada, on the western shore of Lake Ontario; Mr. McIlwraith speaks of its being more common than any other Owl.

A nest found by Mr. Cabot was in the midst of a dry peaty bog. It was built on the ground, in a very slovenly manner, of small sticks and a few feathers, and presented hardly any excavation. It contained four eggs on the point of being hatched. A young bird the size of a Robin was also found lying dead on a tussock of grass in another similar locality.

The notes of Mr. MacFarlane supply memoranda of twelve nests found by him in the Anderson River country. They were all placed on the ground, in various situations. One was in a small clump of dwarf willows, on the ground, and composed of a few decayed leaves. Another nest was in a very small hole, lined with a little hay and some decayed leaves. This was on a barren plain of some extent, fifty miles east of Fort Anderson, and on the edge of the wooded country. A third was in a clump of Labrador Tea, and was similar to the preceding, except that the nest contained a few feathers. This nest contained seven eggs,—the largest number found, and only in this case. A fourth was in an artificial depression, evidently scratched out by the parent bird. Feathers seem to have been noticed in about half the nests, and in all cases to have been taken by the parent from her own breast. Nearly all the nests were in depressions made for the purpose.

Mr. Dall noticed the Short-eared Owl on the Yukon and at Nulato, and Mr. Bannister observed it at St. Michael’s, where it was a not unfrequent visitor. In his recent Notes on the Avi-fauna of the Aleutian Islands, (Pr. Cal. Academy, 1873,) Dall informs us that it is resident on Unalashka, and that it excavates a hole horizontally for its nesting-place,—usually to a distance of about two feet, the farther end a little the higher. The extremity is lined with dry grass and feathers. As there are no trees in the island, the bird was often seen sitting on the ground, near the mouth of its burrow, even in the daytime. Mr. Ridgway found this bird in winter in California, but never met with it at any season in the interior, where the _O. wilsonianus_ was so abundant.

The eggs of this Owl are of a uniform dull white color, which in the unblown egg is said to have a bluish tinge; they are in form an elliptical ovoid. The eggs obtained by Mr. Cabot measured 1.56 inches in length and 1.25 in breadth. The smallest egg collected by Mr. MacFarlane measured 1.50 by 1.22 inches. The largest taken by Mr. B. R. Ross, at Fort Simpson, measures 1.60 by 1.30 inches; their average measurement is 1.57 by 1.28 inches. An egg of the European bird measures 1.55 by 1.30 inches.

GENUS SYRNIUM, SAVIGNY.

_Syrnium_, SAVIGNY, Nat. Hist. Egypt, I, 112; 1809. (Type, _Strix
aluco_, L.)
_Scotiaptex_, SWAINS., Classif. B. II, 1837, p. 216. (Type, _Strix
cinerea_, GMEL.)
_? Ciccaba_, WAGL. Isis, 1831. (Type, _Strix huhula_, DAUD.)
_? Pulsatrix_, KAUP, 1849. (_Strix torquatus_, DAUD.)

GEN. CHAR. Size varying from medium to very large. No ear-tufts. Head very large, the eyes comparatively small. Four to six outer primaries with their inner webs sinuated. Tarsi and upper portion, or the whole of the toes, densely clothed with hair-like feathers. Tail considerably more than half as long as the wing, decidedly rounded. Ear-orifice very high, but not so high as the skull, and furnished with an anterior operculum, which does not usually extend along the full length; the two ears asymmetrical. Bill yellow.

_Syrnium nebulosum._]

Subgenera.

=Scotiaptex.= Six outer quills with their inner webs emarginated. Toes
completely concealed by dense long hair-like feathers. Iris yellow.
(Type, _S. cinereum_.)

=Syrnium=, SWAINSON. Five outer quills with their inner webs
emarginated. Toes not completely concealed by feathers; sometimes
nearly naked; terminal scutellæ always (?) exposed. Iris blackish.
(Type, _S. aluco_.)

The typical species of this genus are confined to the Northern Hemisphere. It is yet doubtful whether the Tropical American species usually referred to this genus really belong here. The genera _Ciccaba_, Wagl., and _Pulsatrix_, Kaup, have been instituted to include most of them; but whether these are generically or only subgenerically distinct from the typical species of _Syrnium_ remains to be decided.

Our _S. nebulosum_ and _S. occidentale_ seem to be strictly congeneric with the _S. aluca_, the type of the subgenus _Syrnium_, since they agree in the minutest particulars in regard to their external form, and other characters not specific.

_Syrnium nebulosum._]

Species and Varieties.

_a._ _Scotiaptex_, SWAINS.

1. =S. cinereum.= Iris yellow; bill yellow. Dusky grayish-brown
and grayish-white, the former prevailing above, the latter
predominating beneath. The upper surface with mottlings of a
transverse tendency; the lower surface with the markings in the
form of ragged longitudinal stripes, which are transformed into
transverse bars on the flanks, etc. Face grayish-white, with
concentric rings of dusky. Wing, 16.00–18.00; tail, 11.00–12.50.

Dark markings predominating. _Hab._ Northern portions of the
Nearctic Realm …

var. _cinereum_.

Light markings predominating. _Hab._ Northern portions of the
Palæarctic Realm …

var. _lapponicum_.

_b._ _Syrnium_, SAV.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Liver-brown or umber, variously spotted and barred
with whitish or ochraceous. Bill yellow; iris brownish-black.

2. =S. nebulosum.= Lower parts striped longitudinally. Head and neck
with transverse bars.

Colors reddish-umber and ochraceous-white. Face with obscure
concentric rings of darker. Wing, 13.00–14.00; tail, 9.00–10.00.
_Hab._ Eastern region of United States …

var. _nebulosum_.

Colors blackish-sepia and clear white. Face without any darker
concentric rings. Wing, 14.80; tail, 9.00. _Hab._ Eastern Mexico
(Mirador) …

var. _sartorii_.[21]

Colors tawny-brown and bright fulvous. Face without darker
concentric rings (?). Wing, 12.50, 12.75; tail, 7.30, 8.50. _Hab._
Guatemala …

var. _fulvescens_.[22]

3. =S. occidentale.= Lower parts transversely barred. Head and
neck with roundish spots. Wing, 12.00–13.10; tail, 9.00. _Hab._
Southern California (Fort Tejon, XANTUS) and Arizona (Tucson, Nov.
7, BENDIRE).

Syrnium (Scotiaptex) cinereum, AUDUBON.

GREAT GRAY OWL.

_Strix cinerea_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. p. 291, 1788.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p.
58, 1790; Syn. I, 134; Supp. I, 45; Gen. Hist. I, 337.—VIEILL. Nouv.
Dict. Hist. Nat. VII, 23, 1816; Enc. Méth. III, 1289; Ois. Am. Sept.
I, 48.—RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A. II, pl. xxxi, 1831.—BONAP. Ann.
Lyc. N. Y. II, 436; Isis, 1832, p. 1140.—AUD. Birds Am. pl. cccli,
1831; Orn. Biog. IV, 364.—NUTT. Man. p. 128.—TYZENHAUZ, Rev. Zoöl.
1851, p. 571. _Syrnium cinereum_, AUD. Synop. p. 26, 1839.—CASS.
Birds Cal. & Tex. p. 184, 1854; Birds N. Am. 1858, p. 56.—BREW.
(WILS.) Am. Orn. p. 687.—DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 26, pl. xiii, f. 29,
1844.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 188, 1855.—NEWB. P. R. R. Rept. VI, IV,
77, 1857.—COOP. & SUCK. P. R. R. Rept. XII, II, 156, 1860.—KAUP, Tr.
Zoöl. Soc. IV, 1859, 256.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Acad. I, 1869,
173.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 48, 1869.—MAYNARD, Birds Eastern Mass., 1870,
130.—_Scotiaptex cinerea_, SWAINS. Classif. Birds, II, 217, 1837.
_Syrnium lapponicum_, var. _cinereum_, COUES, Key, 1872, 204. _Strix
acclamator_, BART. Trans. 285, 1792.

SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Ground-color of the upper surface dark vandyke-brown, but this relieved by a transverse mottling (on the edges of the feathers) of white, the medial portions of the feathers being scarcely variegated, causing an appearance of obsolete longitudinal dark stripes, these most conspicuous on the scapulars and back. The anterior portions above are more regularly barred transversely; the white bars interrupted, however, by the brown medial stripe. On the rump and upper tail-coverts the mottling is more profuse, causing a grayish appearance. On the wing-coverts the outer webs are most variegated by the white mottling. The alula and primary coverts have very obsolete bands of paler; the secondaries are crossed by nine (last terminal, and three concealed by coverts) bands of pale grayish-brown, inclining to white at the borders of the spots; primaries crossed by nine transverse series of quadrate spots of mottled pale brownish-gray on the outer webs, those beyond the emargination obscure,—the terminal crescentic bar distinct, however; upper secondaries and middle tail-feathers with coarse transverse mottling, almost forming bars. Tail with about nine paler bands, these merely marked off by parallel, nearly white bars, enclosing a plain grayish-brown, sometimes slightly mottled space, just perceptibly darker than the ground-color; basally the feathers become profusely mottled, so that the bands are confused; the last band is terminal. Beneath with the ground-color grayish-white, each feather of the neck, breast, and abdomen with a broad, longitudinal ragged stripe of dark brown, like the ground-color of the upper parts; sides, flanks, crissum, and lower tail-coverts with regular transverse narrow bands; legs with finer, more irregular, transverse bars of dusky. “Eyebrows,” lores, and chin grayish-white, a dusky space at anterior angle of the eye; face grayish-white, with distinct concentric semicircles of blackish-brown; facial circle dark brown, becoming white across the foreneck, where it is divided medially by a spot of brownish-black, covering the throat.

♂ (32,306, Moose Factory, Hudson Bay Territory; J. McKenzie). Wing-formula, 4=5, 3, 6–2, 7–8–9, 1. Wing, 16.00; tail, 11.00; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 2.30; middle toe, 1.50.

♀ (54,358, Nulato, R. Am., April 11, 1868; W. H. Dall). Wing-formula, 4=5, 3, 6–2, 7–8–9, 1. Wing, 18.00; tail, 12.50; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 2.20; middle toe, 1.70.

HAB. Arctic America (resident in Canada?). In winter extending into northern borders of United States (Massachusetts, MAYNARD).

The relationship between the _Syrnium cinereum_ and the _S. lapponicum_ is exactly parallel to that between the _Otus vulgaris_, var. _wilsonianus_, and var. _vulgaris_, _Surnia ulula_, var. _hudsonia_, and the var. _ulula_, and _Nyctale tengmalmi_, var. _richardsoni_, and the var. _tengmalmi_. In conformity to the general rule among the species which belong to the two continents, the American race of the present bird is very decidedly darker than the European one, which has the whitish mottling much more prevalent, giving the plumage a lighter and more grayish aspect. The white predominates on the outer webs of the scapulars. On the head and neck the white equals the dusky in extent, while on the lower parts it largely prevails. The longitudinal stripes of the dorsal region are much more conspicuous in _lapponicum_ than in _cinereum_.

A specimen in the Schlütter collection, labelled as from “Nord-Europa,” is not distinguishable from North American examples, and is so very unlike the usual Lapland style that we doubt its being a European specimen at all.

HABITS. The Great Gray or Cinereous Owl appears to be confined to the more northern portions of North America. It is rarely met with in any part of the United States, and only in winter, with the exception of Washington Territory, where it is presumed to be a resident. It is also said to be a resident in Canada, and to be found in the vicinity of Montreal. Mr. Lawrence does not include this bird in his list of the birds of New York, but Mr. Turnbull states that several have been taken as far south as New Jersey. Throughout New England it is occasional in the winter, but comparatively rare. Mr. Allen did not hear of any having been taken near Springfield. On the coast of Massachusetts they are of infrequent occurrence, and are held at high prices. A fine specimen was shot in Lynn in the winter of 1872, and is now in the collection of my nephew, W. S. Brewer. On the Pacific coast it is resident as far south as the mouth of the Columbia, and is found in winter in Northern California.

Dr. Richardson met with this Owl in the fur regions, where it seemed to be by no means rare. He mentions it as an inhabitant of all the wooded districts which lie between Lake Superior and latitude 67° and 68°, and between Hudson’s Bay and the Pacific. It was common on the borders of Great Bear Lake, in which region, as well as in a higher parallel of latitude, it pursues its prey during the summer months by daylight. It was observed to keep constantly within the woods, and was not seen to frequent the barren grounds, in the manner of the Snowy Owl, nor was it so often met with in broad daylight as the Hawk Owl, apparently preferring to hunt when the sun was low and the recesses of the woods deeply shadowed, when the hares and other smaller quadrupeds, upon which it chiefly feeds, were most abundant.

On the 23d of May, Dr. Richardson discovered a nest of this Owl, built on the top of a lofty balsam-poplar, composed of sticks, with a lining of feathers. It contained three young birds, covered with a whitish down, to secure which it was necessary to cut down the tree. While this was going on, the parent birds flew in circles around the tree, keeping out of gun-shot, and apparently undisturbed by the light. The young birds were kept alive for several weeks, but finally escaped. They had the habit, when any one entered the room in which they were kept, of throwing themselves back and making a loud snapping noise with their bills.

In February, 1831, as Audubon was informed, a fine specimen of one of these Owls was taken alive in Marblehead, Mass., having been seen perched upon a woodpile early in the morning. It was obtained by Mr. Ives, of Salem, by whom it was kept several months. It was fed on fish and small birds, and ate its food readily. It would at times utter a tremulous cry, not unlike that of the common Screech-Owl (_Scops asio_), and manifested the greatest antipathy to cats and dogs.

Dr. Cooper found this bird near the mouth of the Columbia River, in a brackish meadow partially covered with small spruce-trees, where they sat concealed during the day, or made short flights from one to another. Dr. Cooper procured a specimen there in June, and has no doubt that the bird is resident and breeds in that neighborhood. He regards it as somewhat diurnal in its habits, and states that it is especially active toward sunset.

Dr. Newberry speaks of this Owl as one generally distributed over the western part of the continent, he having met with it in the Sacramento Valley, in the Cascade Mountains, in the Des Chutes Basin, and in Oregon, on the Columbia River. Mr. Robert MacFarlane found it in great abundance in the Anderson River region. On the 19th of July, as we find in one of his memoranda, he met with a nest of this species near Lockhart River, on the route to Fort Good Hope. The nest was on the top of a pine-tree, twenty feet from the ground. It contained two eggs and two young, both of which were dead. The nest was composed of sticks and mosses, and was lined thinly with down. The female was sitting on the nest, but left it at his approach, and flew to a tree at some distance, where she was shot.

Mr. Donald Gunn writes that the Cinereous Owl is to be found both in summer and in winter throughout all the country commonly known as the Hudson Bay Territory. He states that it hunts by night, preys upon rabbits and mice, and nests in tall poplar-trees, usually quite early in the season.

A single specimen of this Owl was taken at Sitka by Bischoff, and on the 20th of April Mr. Dall obtained a female that had been shot at Takitesky, about twenty miles east of the Yukon, near Nulato. He subsequently obtained several specimens in that region. Mr. Dall describes it as very stupid, and easy to be caught by the hand during the daytime. From its awkward motions its Indian name of _nūhl-tūhl_, signifying “heavy walker,” is derived. So far as observed by Mr. Dall, this Owl appeared to feed principally upon small birds, and he took no less than thirteen crania and other remains of _Ægiothus linaria_ from the crop of a single bird.

Specimens of this Owl have also been received by the Smithsonian Institution, collected by Mr. Kennicott, from Fort Yukon and from Nulato; from Mr. J. McKenzie, Moose Factory; from J. Lockhart, obtained at Fort Resolution and at Fort Yukon; from J. Flett, at La Pierre House; from B. R. Ross, at Big Island; and from Mr. S. Jones and Mr. J. McDougall, at Fort Yukon. These were all taken between February 11 and July 19.

One of the eggs of this Owl, referred to above in Mr. MacFarlane’s note, is in my cabinet. It is small for the size of the bird, and is of a dull soiled-white color, oblong in shape, and decidedly more pointed at one end than at the other. It measures 2.25 inches in length by 1.78 in breadth. The drawing of an egg of this species, made by Mr. Audubon from a supposed specimen of an egg of this species, referred to in the “North American Oölogy,” and which measured 2.44 by 2.00 inches, was probably a sketch of the egg of the Snowy Owl.

Syrnium nebulosum, GRAY.

BARRED OWL; “HOOT OWL.”

_Strix nebulosa_, FORST. Phil. Trans. XXII, 386 & 424, 1772.—GMEL.
Syst. Nat. p. 291, 1789.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p. 58, 1790; Syn. I, 133;
Gen. Hist. I, 338.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 191, 1800.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII,
245, 1839; Nat. Misc. pl. xxv.—VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. pl. xvii, 1807;
Nouv. Dict. Hist. Nat. VII, 32; Enc. Méth. III, 1292.—AUD. Birds Am.
pl. xlvi, 1831; Orn. Biog. I, 242.—TEMM. Man. Orn. pt. i, p. 88; pt.
iii, p. 47.—WERN. Atl. Ois. Eur.—MEYER, Taschenb. Deutsch Vogelk. III,
21; Zusätze, p. 21.—WILS. Am. Orn. pl. xxxiii, f. 2, 1808.—RICH. &
SWAINS. F. B. A. II, 81.—BONAP. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 38; Isis, 1832,
p. 1140.—JARD. (WILS.) Am. Orn. II, 57, 1832. _Ulula nebulosa_,
STEPH. Zoöl. XIII, pl. ii, p. 60, 1815.—CUV. Reg. An. (ed. 2), I,
342, 1829.—JAMES. (WILS.) Am. Orn. I, 107, 1831; IV, 280.—BONAPARTE,
List, page 7, 1838; Conspectus Avium, p. 53.—GOULD, Birds Eur. pl.
xlvi.—LESS. Man. Orn. I, 113, 1828; Tr. Orn. p. 108.—GRAY, Gen. B.
fol. (ed. 2), p. 8, 1844.—DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 29, pl. x, f. 21,
1844. _Syrnium nebulosum_, GRAY, Gen. B. fol. sp. 9, 1844; List Birds
Brit. Mus. p. 104.—CASS. Birds Cal. & Tex. p. 184, 1854; Birds N. Am.
1858, 56.—GIRAUD, Birds Long Island, p. 24, 1844.—WOODH. in Sitgr.
Rept. Expl. Zuñi & Colorad. p. 63, 1853.—BREW. (WILS.) Am. Orn. p.
687, 1852.—KAUP, Monog. Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, p. 121.—IB. Tr. Zoöl.
Soc. IV, 256.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 189, 1855.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI,
1858, 28.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 330 (Texas, resident).—COUES, Key,
1872, 204.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 48, 1869.

SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Head, neck, breast, back, scapulars, and rump with broad regular transverse bars of ochraceous-white and deep umber-brown, the latter color always terminal; on the upper surface the brown somewhat exceeds the whitish in width, but on the neck and breast the white rather predominates. The lower third of the breast is somewhat differently marked from the upper portion, the brown bars being connected along the shaft of the feather, throwing the white into pairs of spots on opposite webs. Each feather of the abdomen, sides, flanks, and lower tail-coverts has a broad medial longitudinal stripe of brown somewhat deeper in tint than the transverse bars on the upper parts; the anal region is plain, more ochraceous, white; the legs have numerous, but rather faint, transverse spots of brown. Ground-color of the wings and tail brown, like the bars of the back; middle and secondary wing-coverts with roundish transverse spots of nearly pure white on lower webs; lesser coverts plain rich brown; secondaries crossed by six bands of pale grayish-brown, passing into paler on the edge of each feather,—the last is terminal, passing narrowly into whitish; primary coverts with four bands of darker ochraceous-brown; primaries with transverse series of quadrate pale-brown spots on the outer webs (growing deeper in tint on inner quills), the last terminal; on the longest are about eight. Tail like the wings, crossed with six or seven sharply defined bands of pale brown, the last terminal.

Face grayish-white, with concentric semicircular bars of brown; eyebrows and lores with black shafts; a narrow crescent of black against anterior angle of the eye. Facial circle of blackish-brown and creamy-white bars, the former prevailing along the anterior edge, the latter more distinct posteriorly, and prevailing across the neck in front, where the brown forms disconnected transverse spots.

♀ (752, Carlisle, Penn.). Wing-formula, 4–3, 5–2, 6; 1=9. Wing, 13.00; tail, 9.00; culmen, 1.05; tarsus, 1.90; middle toe, 1.50.

♂. A little smaller. (No specimen marked ♂ in the collection.)

_Hab._ Eastern North America, west to the Missouri; Rio Grande region.

A female (?) from Calais, Me., (4,966; G. A. Boardman,) is somewhat lighter-colored than the type, owing to the clearer white of the bars. It measures, wing, 13.50; tail, 9.80.

A specimen (4,357, January) from Washington, D. C., is quite remarkable for the very dark tints of plumage and the unusual prevalence of the brown; this is of a more reddish cast than in all other specimens, becoming somewhat blackish on the head and neck; anteriorly it prevails so as to almost completely hide the pale bars of the back and nape. The tail has no bars except three or four very obsolete ones near the end; beneath, the ochraceous tinge is quite deep. The toes, except their first joint, are perfectly naked; the middle one, however, has a narrow strip of feathering running along the outer side as far as the last joint. The darker shades of color, and more naked toes, seem to be distinguishing features of southern examples.

HABITS. The Barred Owl has an extended range, having been met with nearly throughout North America, from about latitude 50° to Texas. Minnesota is the most western point to which, so far as I am aware, it has been traced. It is more abundant in the Southern States than elsewhere, and in the more northern portions of North America is somewhat rare. Richardson did not encounter it in the more arctic portion of the fur countries, nor has it, so far as I can learn, been observed on the Pacific coast. It is said to be of accidental occurrence in northern Europe.

In Louisiana, as Mr. Audubon states, it is more abundant than anywhere else; and Dr. Woodhouse speaks of it as very common in the Indian Territories, and also in Texas and New Mexico, especially in the timbered lands bordering the streams and ponds of that region. In July, 1846, while in pursuit of shore birds in the island of Muskeget, near Nantucket, in the middle of a bright day, I was surprised by meeting one of these birds, which, uninvited, joined us in the hunt, and when shot proved to be a fine male adult specimen.

The Barred Owl was found in great abundance in Florida by Mr. J. A. Allen, the only species of Owl at all common, and where its ludicrous notes were heard at night everywhere, and even occasionally in the daytime. At night they not unfrequently startle the traveller by their strange utterances from the trees directly over his head.

Mr. Dresser speaks of it as very abundant at all seasons of the year in the wooded parts of Texas. He was not able to find its nest, but was told by the hunters that they build in hollow trees, near the banks of the rivers.

According to Mr. Downes, this Owl is common throughout Nova Scotia, where it is resident, and never leaves its particular neighborhood. It breeds in the woods throughout all parts of that colony, and was observed by him to feed on hares, spruce and ruffed grouse, and other birds. It is said to be a quite common event for this bird to make its appearance at midnight about the camp-fires of the moose-hunter and the lumberer, and to disturb their slumbers with its cries, as with a demoniacal expression it peers into the glare of the embers. Distending its throat and pushing its head forward, it gives utterance to unearthly sounds that to the superstitious are quite appalling.

Mr. Wilson regarded this species as one of the most common of the Owls in the lower parts of Pennsylvania, where it was particularly numerous in winter, among the woods that border the extensive meadows of the Schuylkill and the Delaware River. He frequently observed it flying during the day, when it seemed to be able to see quite distinctly. He met with more than forty of these birds in one spring, either flying or sitting exposed in the daytime, and once discovered one of its nests situated in the crotch of a white oak, among thick foliage, and containing three young. It was rudely put together, made outwardly of sticks, intermixed with dry grasses and leaves, and lined with smaller twigs. He adds that this Owl screams in the day in the manner of a Hawk. Nuttall characterizes their peculiar hooting as a loud guttural call, which he expresses by _’koh-’koh-’ko-’ko-’ho_, or as _’whah-’whah-’whah-’whah-aa_, heard occasionally both by day and by night. It is a note of recognition, and may be easily imitated, and can be used as a means to decoy the birds. Nuttall received a specimen that had been shot in November, hovering, in the daytime, over a covey of Quail.

Mr. Audubon speaks of the peculiar hooting cries of this species as strangely ludicrous in sound, and as suggestive of an affected burst of laughter. He adds that he has frequently seen this nocturnal marauder alight within a few yards of his camp-fire, exposing its whole body to the glare of the light, and eying him in a very curious manner, and with a noticeable liveliness and oddness of motion. In Louisiana, where he found them more abundant than anywhere else, Mr. Audubon states that, should the weather be lowering, and indicative of the approach of rain, their cries are so multiplied during the day, and especially in the evening, and they respond to each other in tones so strange, that one might imagine some extraordinary _fête_ was about to take place among them. At this time their gesticulations are said to be of a very extraordinary nature.

The flight of this Owl is described as remarkably smooth, light, noiseless, and capable of being greatly protracted. So very lightly do they fly, that Mr. Audubon states he has frequently discovered one passing over him, and only a few yards distant, by first seeing its shadow on the ground, in the bright moonlight, when not the faintest rustling of its wings could be heard.

This Owl has the reputation of being very destructive to poultry, especially to half-grown chickens. In Louisiana they are said to nest in March, laying their eggs about the middle of the month. Audubon states that they nest in hollow trees on the dust of the decomposed wood, and at other times take possession of the deserted nest of a crow, or of a Red-tailed Hawk. In New England I think they construct their own nest. Mr. William Street, of Easthampton, Mass., has twice found the nest of this Owl. On one occasion it had young, unfledged. Upon returning to get them, a few days later, they had disappeared, and as he conjectures, had been removed by their parents. Another time he found a nest in a lofty pine, and at a height of sixty feet. He saw and shot the old bird. He has often found them hiding themselves by day in a thick hemlock. In the winter of 1869, Mr. Street witnessed a singular contest between a Barred Owl and a Goshawk over a Grouse which the latter had killed, but of which the Owl contested the possession. The Hawk had decidedly the advantage in the fight, when the contest was arrested by shooting the Owl. He has noticed a pair of Barred Owls in his neighborhood for the past four years, and has never known them to hoot from the time they have reared their young to the 14th of February. They then begin about an hour after dark, and their hooting continues to increase until about the 8th of April, when they mate, at which time their hooting may be heard both day and night. There is a very great difference observable between the cries of the female and the utterances of the male. The latter seldom hoots, and there is as much difference between his voice and that of the female as between the crowing of a young bird and of the old cock.

In two instances I have known well-developed eggs of this Owl taken from the oviduct of the female in February. One of these cases occurred near Niagara Falls in the spring of 1852. The other, in 1854, was noticed by Professor William Hopkins, then of Auburn, N. Y., to whose kindness I was indebted for the egg the parentage of which is so unquestionable. It is purely white, almost globular, and, except in shape, hardly distinguishable from the egg of the domestic Hen. It is 2.00 inches in length, and 1.69 in breadth.

Syrnium occidentale, XANTUS.

WESTERN BARRED OWL; SPOTTED OWL.

_Syrnium occidentale_, XANTUS, P. A. N. S. Philad. 1859, 193.—BAIRD,
Birds N. Am. App. pl. lxvi.—COUES, Key, 1872, 204.

SP. CHAR. _Adult_ (♂, 17,200, Fort Tejon, California; J. Xantus. Type of Xantus’s description). Above deep umber-brown, much as in _S. nebulosum_. Whole head and neck with circular and cordate spots of white, one near the end of each feather; on the scapulars and back, rump, wings, and tail, they are rather sparse and more transverse, but of very irregular form; they are most conspicuous on the scapulars and larger wing-coverts. Secondaries crossed with about six bands of paler brown, each spot growing white on the edge of the feather,—the last band terminal; primaries with seven transverse series of pale brown, or brownish-white, quadrate spots on outer webs, the last terminal; these spots are almost clear white on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth quills. Tail with about eight very narrow, rather obsolete, bands of pale brown, growing whiter and more distinct terminally, the last forming a conspicuous terminal band. Ground-color of the lower parts dull white, somewhat tinged with ochraceous laterally; everywhere with numerous transverse spots and bars of brown like the back,—this predominating anteriorly, the white forming spots on opposite webs; on the lower tail-coverts the transverse spots or bars are very sharply defined and regular, the brown rather exceeding the white. Face, eyebrows, and lores soiled brownish-white, the former with obscure concentric semicircles of darker brownish. Facial circle blackish-brown, spotted posteriorly with white; across the neck in front, it is more broken. Legs white, with sparse obsolete transverse specks. Wing-formula, 4, 3, 5–6–2; 1=9. Wing, 13.10; tail, 9.00; culmen, .85; tarsus, 2.10; middle toe, 1.30. Length, “18”; extent, “40.”

HAB. Southern Middle Province of United States (Fort Tejon, California, XANTUS; and Tucson, Arizona, BENDIRE).

HABITS. Nothing is on record concerning the habits of this bird.

GENUS NYCTALE, BREHM.

_Nyctale_, BREHM, 1828. (Type, _Strix tengmalmi_, GMEL.)

GEN. CHAR. Size small. Head very large, without ear-tufts. Eyes moderate; iris yellow. Two outer primaries only with their inner webs distinctly emarginated. Tarsi and toes densely, but closely, feathered. Ear-conch very large, nearly as high as the skull, with an anterior operculum; the two ears exceedingly asymmetrical, not only externally, but in their osteological structure. Furcula not anchylosed posteriorly, but joined by a membrane.

_Nyctale acadica._]

Of this genus only three species are as yet known; two of these belong to the Northern Hemisphere, one of them (_N. tengmalmi_) being circumpolar, the other (_N. acadica_) peculiar to North America. The habitat of the remaining species (_N. harrisi_) is unknown, but is supposed to be South America. If it be really from that portion of the New World, it was probably obtained in a mountainous region.

Species and Races.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Above umber, or chocolate, brown, spotted with
white (more or less uniform in the young); beneath white with
longitudinal stripes of reddish-brown (adult), or ochraceous without
markings (young).

=A.= Nostril sunken, elongate-oval, obliquely vertical, opening
laterally; cere not inflated. Tail considerably more than half the
wing. Bill yellow.

1. =N. tengmalmi.= Wing, 7.20; tail, 4.50; culmen, .60; tarsus,
1.00; middle toe, .67 (average).

Legs white, almost, or quite, unspotted; lower tail-coverts
with narrow shaft-streaks of brown. (Light tints generally
predominating.) _Hab._ Northern portions of Palæarctic Realm …

var. _tengmalmi_.[23]

Legs ochraceous, thickly spotted with brown; lower tail-coverts
with broad medial stripes of brown. (Dark tints generally
predominating.) _Hab._ Northern portions of Nearctic Realm …

var. _richardsoni_.

=B.= Nostril prominent, nearly circular, opening anteriorly; cere
somewhat inflated. Tail scarcely more than half the wing. Bill
black.

2. =N. acadica.= Wing, 5.25 to 5.80; tail, 2.60 to 3.00; culmen,
.50; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .60. _Juv._ Face dark brown;
forehead and crown brown; occiput brown; eyebrows and sides of
chin white; throat and breast umber-brown. (= “_albifrons_,” Shaw
= “_kirtlandi_,” HOY.) _Hab._ Cold temperate portions of Nearctic
Realm.

3. =N. harrisi.=[24] Wing, 5.80; tail, 3.00; culmen, .50; tarsus,
1.00; middle toe, .80. _Juv._ (?) Face and forehead and anterior
half of crown and whole nape ochraceous; posterior half of crown
and occiput black; eyebrows and sides of chin ochraceous; throat
and breast ochraceous. A narrow belt of black spots in ruff across
throat. _Hab._ South America?

Nyctale tengmalmi, var. richardsoni, BONAP.

AMERICAN SPARROW OWL; RICHARDSON’S OWL.

_Nyctale richardsoni_, BONAP. List. E. & N. A. Birds, p. 7, 1838;
Consp. Av. p. 54, 1850.—GRAY, Gen. B. fol. sp. 2, 1844.—CASS. Birds
Cal. & Tex. p. 185, 1854; Birds N. Am. 1858, p. 57.—KAUP, Monog.
Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, p. 105 (sub. _tengmalmi_).—IB. Tr. Zoöl. Soc.
IV, 1859, 208.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 176, 1865.—MAYNARD, Birds Eastern
Mass. 1870, 133.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 51, 1869. _Strix tengmalmi_,
RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A. II, 94, pl. xxxii, 1831.—AUD. Birds Am. pl.
ccclxxx, 1831; Orn. Biog. IV, 599, 1831.—PEAB. Birds Mass. p. 91,
1841. _Nyctale tengmalmi_, DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Acad. I,
1869, 273. _Nyctale tengmalmi_, var. _richardsoni_, RIDGWAY, Am. Nat.
VI, May, 1872, 285.—COUES, Key, 1872, 206.

SP. CHAR. _Adult_ (♀, 3,886, Montreal, Canada, September, 1853; Broome). Upper surface brownish-olive or umber-brown. Forehead and crown with numerous elliptical (longitudinal) marks of white, feathers everywhere with large partly concealed spots of the same; these spots are largest on the neck and scapulars, on the latter of a roundish form, the outer webs of those next the wing being almost wholly white, the edge only brown; on the nape the spots form V-shaped marks, the spots themselves being somewhat pointed; below this is a transverse, less distinct collar, of more concealed spots; wing-coverts toward the edge of the wing with a few large, nearly circular, white spots; secondaries with two transverse series of smaller white spots, these crossing about the middle, remote from the end and base; outer feathers of the alula with two white spots along the margin; primary coverts plain; primaries with four or five transverse series of white spots; tail with the same number of narrow transverse spots, forming incontinuous bands, the spots not touching the shaft,—the last spot not terminal. Facial circle much darker brown than the crown, and speckled with irregular spots of white, these either medial or upon only one web; across the throat the circle becomes paler brown, without the white spotting. Eyebrows and face grayish-white; lores and eyelids blackish. Lower parts white, becoming pale ochraceous on the legs; sides of the breast, sides, flanks, and lower tail-coverts with daubs of brown (slightly lighter and more reddish than on the back), those of the breast somewhat transverse, but posteriorly they are decidedly longitudinal; front of tarsus clouded with brown. Wing-formula, 3, 4–2–5–6–7–1. Wing, 7.20; tail, 4.50; culmen, .60; tarsus, 1.00; middle toe, .67.

A female from Alaska (49,802, Nulato, April 28, 1867; W. H. Dall) is considerably darker than the specimen described above; the occiput has numerous circular spots of white, and the tarsi are more thickly spotted; no other differences, however, are appreciable. Two specimens from Quebec (17,064 and 17,065; Wm. Cooper) are exactly similar to the last, but the numerous white spots on the forehead are circular.

HAB. Arctic America; in winter south into northern border of United States; Canada (DR. HALL); Wisconsin (DR. HOY); Oregon (J. K. TOWNSEND); Massachusetts (MAYNARD).

The _Nyctale richardsoni_, though, without doubt, specifically the same as the _N. tengmalmi_ of Europe, is, nevertheless, to be distinguished from it. The colors of the European bird are very much paler; the legs are white, scarcely variegated, instead of ochraceous, thickly spotted; the lower tail-coverts have merely shaft-streaks of brown, instead of broad stripes. Very perfect specimens from Europe enable me to make a satisfactory comparison.

From an article by Mr. D. G. Elliot in Ibis (1872, p. 48), it would appear that the young of _N. tengmalmi_ is very different from the adult in being darker and without spots; a stripe from the eye over the nostrils, and a patch under the eye at the base of bill, white. It is probable, therefore, that the American race has a similar plumage, which, however, has as yet escaped the honor of a name; more fortunate than the young of _N. acadica_, which boasts a similar plumage. This (_N. albifrons_) Mr. Elliot erroneously refers to the _N. tengmalmi_, judging from specimens examined by him from the Alps, from Russia, and from Norway. The most striking difference, judging from the description, apart from that of size, appears to be in the whiter bill of the _tengmalmi_.

HABITS. This race is an exclusively northern bird, peculiar to North America, and rarely met with in the limits of the United States. A few specimens only have been obtained in Massachusetts. Dr. Hoy mentions it as a bird of Wisconsin, and on the Pacific Dr. Townsend met with it as far south as Oregon, where it seems to be more abundant than on the eastern coast.

Mr. Boardman thinks that this Owl is probably a resident in the vicinity of Calais, where, however, it is not common. It was not taken by Professor Verrill at Norway, Maine. Mr. J. A. Allen regards it as a very rare winter visitant in Western Massachusetts, but obtained a specimen near Springfield in December, 1859. In the same winter another was shot near Boston, and one by Dr. Wood, near Hartford, Conn. Mr. Allen subsequently records the capture of a specimen in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. J. Southwick, in the winter of 1863, and mentions two other specimens, also taken within the limits of the State. It is not mentioned by Dr. Cooper as among the birds of California.

Specimens of this Owl were taken at Fort Simpson in May, and at Fort Resolution by Mr. B. R. Ross, at Big Island by Mr. J. Reid, at Fort Rae by Mr. L. Clarke, and at Fort Yukon by Mr. J. Lockhart and Mr. J. McDougall, and at Selkirk Settlement, in February and March, by Mr. Donald Gunn.

Mr. B. R. Ross states that though no specimens of this Owl were received from north of Fort Simpson, yet he is quite certain that it ranges to the Arctic Circle. He says it is a fierce bird, and creates great havoc among the flocks of Linnets and other small birds. Its nest is built on trees, and the eggs are three or four in number, of a pure white color and nearly round shape. It sometimes seizes on the deserted hole of a Woodpecker for a habitation.

Mr. Dall obtained a female specimen of this Owl at Nulato, April 28, where it was not uncommon. It was often heard crying in the evenings, almost like a human being, and was quite fearless. It could be readily taken in the hand without its making any attempt to fly away, but it had a habit of biting viciously. It was frequently seen in the daytime sitting on trees. According to the Indians, it generally nests in holes in dead trees, and lays six spherical white eggs. Richardson informs us that it inhabits all the wooded country from Great Slave Lake to the United States, and is very common on the banks of the Saskatchewan. It was obtained in Canada by the Countess of Dalhousie, but at what season the bird was met with is not stated; the Smithsonian Institution also possesses specimens from the vicinity of Montreal. It probably does not breed so far south as that place, or, if so, very rarely. Mr. Audubon procured a specimen near Bangor, Maine, in September, the only one he ever met with.