Chapter XXVI: Part 26

Length to end of tail 11 inches; wing from flexure 6-10/12; bill along the ridge 1; tarsus 11/12; hind toe 5/12, its claw 5/12; middle toe 9/12, its claw 8/12.

Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXX. Fig. 2.

The Female resembles the male, but is considerably larger.

SNOW GOOSE.

_ANSER HYPERBOREUS_, BONAP.

PLATE CCCLXXXI. ADULT MALE AND YOUNG FEMALE.

The geographical range of the Snow Goose is very extensive. It has been observed in numerous flocks, travelling northward, by the members of the recent overland expeditions. On the other hand, I have found it in the Texas, and it is very abundant on the Columbia River, together with Hutchins’s Goose. In the latter part of autumn, and during winter, I have met with it in every part of the United States that I have visited.

While residing at Henderson on the Ohio, I never failed to watch the arrival of this and other species in the ponds of the neighbourhood, and generally found the young Snow Geese to make their appearance in the beginning of October, and the adult or white birds about a fortnight later. In like manner, when migrating northward, although the young and the adult birds set out at the same time, they travel in separate flocks, and, according to Captain Sir GEORGE BACK, continue to do so even when proceeding to the higher northern latitudes of our continent. It is not less curious that, during the whole of the winter, these Geese remain equally divided, even if found in the same localities; and although young and old are often seen to repose on the same sand-bar, the flocks keep at as great a distance as possible.

The Snow Goose in the grey state of its plumage is very abundant in winter, about the mouths of the Mississippi, as well as on all the muddy and grassy shores of the bays and inlets of the Gulf of Mexico, as far as the Texas, and probably still farther to the south-west. During the rainy season, it betakes itself to the large prairies of Attacapas and Oppellousas, and there young and adult procure their food together, along with several species of Ducks, Herons, and Cranes, feeding, like the latter, on the roots of plants, and nibbling the grasses sideways, in the manner of the Common Tame Goose. In Louisiana I have not unfrequently seen the adult birds feeding in wheat fields, when they pluck up the plants entire.

When the young Snow Geese first arrive in Kentucky, about Henderson for instance, they are unsuspicious, and therefore easily procured. In a half-dry half-wet pond, running across a large tract of land, on the other side of the river, in the State of Indiana, and which was once my property, I was in the habit of shooting six or seven of a-day. This, however, rendered the rest so wild, that the cunning of any “Red Skin” might have been exercised without success upon them; and I was sorry to find that they had the power of communicating their sense of danger to the other flocks which arrived. On varying my operations however, and persevering for some time, I found that even the wildest of them now and then suffered; for having taken it into my head to catch them in large traps, I tried this method, and several were procured before the rest had learned to seize the tempting bait in a judicious manner.

The Snow Goose affords good eating when young and fat; but the old Ganders are tough and stringy. Those that are procured along the sea-shores, as they feed on shell-fish, fry and marine plants, have a rank taste, which, however suited to the palate of the epicure, I never could relish.

The flight of this species is strong and steady, and its migrations over the United States are performed at a considerable elevation, by regular flappings of the wings, and a disposition into lines similar to that of other Geese. It walks well, and with rather elevated steps; but on land its appearance is not so graceful as that of our common Canada Goose. Whilst with us they are much more silent than any other of our species, rarely emitting any cries unless when pursued on being wounded. They swim buoyantly, and, when pressed, with speed. When attacked by the White-headed Eagle, or any other rapacious bird, they dive well for a short space. At the least appearance of danger, when they are on land, they at once come close together, shake their heads and necks, move off in a contrary direction, very soon take to wing, and fly to a considerable distance, but often return after a time.

I am unable to inform you at what age the Snow Goose attains its pure white plumage, as I have found that a judgment formed from individuals kept in confinement is not to be depended upon. In one instance at least, a friend of mine who had kept a bird of this species four years, wrote to me that he was despairing of ever seeing it become pure white. Two years after, he sent me much the same message; but, at the commencement of next spring, the Goose was a Snow Goose, and the change had taken place in less than a month.

Dr RICHARDSON informs us that, this species “breeds in the barren grounds of Arctic America, in great numbers. The eggs of a yellowish-white colour, and regularly ovate form, are a little larger than those of the Eider Duck, their length being three inches, and their greatest breadth two. The young fly in August, and by the middle of September all have departed to the southward. The Snow Goose feeds on rushes, insects, and in autumn on berries, particularly those of the _Empetrum nigrum_. When well fed it is a very excellent bird, far superior to the Canada Goose in juiciness and flavour. It is said that the young do not attain the full plumage before their fourth year, and until that period they appear to keep in separate flocks. They are numerous at Albany Fort in the southern part of Hudson’s Bay, where the old birds are rarely seen; and, on the other hand, the old birds in their migrations visit York Factory in great abundance, but are seldom accompanied by the young. The Snow Geese make their appearance in spring a few days later than the Canada Geese, and pass in large flocks both through the interior and on the coast.”

The young birds of this species begin to acquire their whiteness about the head and neck after the first year, but the upper parts remain of a dark bluish colour until the bird suddenly becomes white all over; at least, this is the case with such as are kept in captivity. Although it is allied to the White-fronted or Laughing Goose, _Anser albifrons_, I was surprised to find that WILSON had confounded the two species together, and been of opinion that the Bean Goose also was the same bird in an imperfect state of plumage. That excellent ornithologist tells us that “this species, called on the sea-coast, the Red Goose, arrives in the river Delaware, from the north, early in November, sometimes in considerable flocks, and is extremely noisy, their notes being shriller and more squeaking than those of the Canada, or common Wild Goose. On their first arrival, they make but a short stay, proceeding, as the depth of winter approaches, farther south; but from the middle of February, until the breaking up of the ice in March, they are frequently numerous along both shores of the Delaware, about and below Reedy Island, particularly near Old Duck Creek, in the State of Delaware. They feed on roots of the reeds there, which they tear up like hogs.”

This species is rare both in Massachusetts and South Carolina, although it passes over both these States in considerable numbers, and in the latter some have been known to alight among the common domestic Geese, and to have remained several days with them. My friend Dr BACHMAN, of Charleston, South Carolina, kept a male Snow Goose several years along with his tame Geese. He had received it from a friend while it was in its grey plumage, and the following spring it became white. It had been procured in the autumn, and proved to be a male. In a few days it became very gentle, and for several years it mated with a common Goose; but the eggs produced by the latter never hatched. The Snow Goose was in the habit of daily frequenting a mill-pond in the vicinity, and returning regularly at night along with the rest; but in the beginning of each spring it occasioned much trouble. It then continually raised its head and wings, and attempted to fly off; but finding this impossible, it seemed anxious to perform its long journey on foot, and it was several times overtaken and brought back, after it had proceeded more than a mile, having crossed fences and plantations in a direct course northward. This propensity cost it its life: it had proceeded as far as the banks of the Cooper River, when it was shot by a person who supposed it to be a wild bird.

In the latter part of the autumn of 1832, whilst I was walking with my wife, in the neighbourhood of Boston in Massachusetts, I observed on the road a young Snow Goose in a beautiful state of plumage, and after making some inquiries, found its owner, who was a gardener. He would not part with it for any price offered. Some weeks after, a friend called one morning, and told me that this gardener had sent his Snow Goose to town, and that it would be sold by auction that day. I desired my friend to attend the sale, which he did; and before a few hours had elapsed, the bird was in my possession, having been obtained for 75 cents! We kept this Goose several months in a small yard at the house where we boarded, along with the young of the Sand-hill Crane, _Grus Americana_. It was fed on leaves and thin stalks of cabbage, bread, and other vegetable substances. When the spring approached, it exhibited great restlessness, seeming anxious to remove northward, as was the case with Dr BACHMAN’s bird. Although the gardener had kept it four years, it was not white, but had the lower part of the neck and the greater portion of the back, of a dark bluish tint, as represented in the plate. It died before we left Boston, to the great regret of my family, as I had anticipated the pleasure of presenting it alive to my honoured and noble friend the EARL of Derby.

There can be little doubt that this species breeds in its grey plumage, when it is generally known by the name of Blue-winged Goose, as is the case with the young of _Grus Americana_, formerly considered as a distinct species, and named _Grus Canadensis_.

ANAS HYPERBOREA, _Gmel._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 504.—_Lath._
Ind. Orn. vol. ii. p. 837.

SNOW GOOSE, ANAS HYPERBOREA, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol.
viii. p. 76, pl. 68, fig. 3, Male, and p. 89, pl. 69, fig. 5,
Young.

ANSER HYPERBOREUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of
United States, p. 376.

ANSER HYPERBOREUS, SNOW GOOSE, _Richards. and Swains._ Fauna
Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 467.

SNOW GOOSE, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. ii. p. 344.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXI. Fig. 1.

Bill about the length of the head, much higher than broad at the base, somewhat conical, compressed, rounded at the tip. Upper mandible with the dorsal line sloping, the ridge broad and flattened at the base, narrowed towards the unguis, which is roundish and very convex, the edges beset with compressed, hard teeth-like lamellæ, their outline ascending and slightly arched; lower mandible ascending, nearly straight, the angle long and of moderate length, the dorsal line beyond it convex, the sides erect, and beset with lamellæ; similar to those of the upper, but more numerous, the unguis obovate and very convex. Nasal groove oblong, parallel to the ridge, filled by the soft membrane of the bill; nostrils medial, lateral, longitudinal, narrow-elliptical, open, pervious.

Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and slender. Body full, slightly depressed. Feet rather short, strong, placed about the centre of the body; legs bare a little above the joint; tarsus rather short, strong, a little compressed, covered all round with hexagonal, reticulated scales, which are smaller behind; hind toe very small, with a narrow membrane; third toe longest, fourth considerably shorter, but longer than the second; all the toes reticulated above at the base, but with narrow transverse scutella towards the end; the three anterior connected by a reticulated membrane, the outer having a thick margin, the inner with the margin extended into a two-lobed web. Claws small, arched, rather compressed, obtuse, that of the middle toe bent obliquely outwards, and depressed, with a curved edge.

Plumage close, full, compact above, blended beneath, as well as on the head and neck, on the latter of which it is disposed in longitudinal bands, separated by narrow grooves; the feathers of the lateral parts small and narrow, of the back ovato-oblong, and abruptly rounded, of the lower parts curved and oblong. Wings rather long, broad; primaries strong, incurved, broad, towards the end tapering, the second longest, but only a quarter of an inch longer than the first, which scarcely exceeds the third; the first and second sinuate on the inner web, the second and third on the outer. Secondaries long, very broad, rounded, the inner curved outwards. Tail very short, rounded, of sixteen broad rounded feathers.

Bill carmine-red, the unguis of both mandibles white, their edges black. Iris light brown. Feet dull lake, claws brownish-black. The general colour of the plumage is pure white; the fore part of the head tinged with yellowish-red; the primaries brownish-grey, towards the end blackish-brown, their shafts white unless toward the end.

Length to end of tail 31-3/4 inches, to end of claws 33-1/2, to end of wings 31-3/4, to carpus 14; extent of wings 62; wing from flexure 19-1/2; tail 6-1/4; bill along the ridge 2-5/8, along the edge of lower mandible 3-1/4; bare part of tibia 3/4; tarsus 3-5/8; hind toe 1/2, its claw (4-1/2)/12; middle toe 3, its claw 4/12. Weight 6-3/4 lb.

Young Female, in first winter. Plate CCCLXXXI. Fig. 2.

The colours of the young bird, in its first plumage, are unknown; but in its second plumage, in autumn and winter, it presents the appearance exhibited in the plate. The bill is pale flesh-colour, its edges black, and the unguis bluish-white; the feet flesh-colour, the claws dusky. The head and upper part of the neck are white, tinged above with grey, the lower part of the neck all round, the fore part of the back, the scapulars, the fore part of the breast, and the sides, blackish-grey; paler beneath. The hind part of the back and the upper tail-coverts, are ash-grey; as are the wing-coverts; but the secondary coverts are greyish-black in the middle; and all the quills are of that colour, the secondaries margined with greyish-white; the tail-feathers dusky-grey, broadly margined with greyish-white. The dark colour of the fore part of the breast gradually fades into greyish-white, which is the colour of the other inferior parts, excepting the axillar feathers, and some of the lower wing-coverts, which are white.

Length of an individual in this plumage, kept four years, to end of tail 26 inches, to end of claws 25; extent of wings 55; bill along the ridge 2-1/4, from frontal angle 2-1/2; tarsus 2-(7-1/2)/12; hind toe 6/12, its claw (4-1/2)/12; middle toe 2-1/4, its claw 4/12. Weight 2 lb. 13 oz. The bird very poor.

In an adult male preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is moderately concave, with five series of strong conical papillæ directed backwards. The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, margined with two series of extremely slender papillæ. The marginal lamellæ of the upper mandible are 25, of the lower about 45. The tongue is 2 inches 5 twelfths long, nearly cylindrical, with strong pointed papillæ at the base, and on each side a series of flattened, sharp lamellæ, directed backwards, together with very numerous bristle-like filaments. It is fleshy, has a soft prominent pad at the base above, and towards the end has a median groove, the point rounded thin, and horny. The œsophagus; which is 17 inches long, has a diameter of 9 twelfths at the upper part, and at the lower part of the neck is dilated to 1 inch. The proventricular glands are cylindrical, simple, and arranged in a belt nearly 1 inch in breadth. The other parts were removed.

The reddish tint on the head affords no indication of the age of the bird, some individuals of all ages having that part pure white, while others have it rusty. The same remark applies to our two Swans.

SHARP-TAILED GROUS.

_TETRAO PHASIANELLUS_, LINN.

PLATE CCCLXXXII. MALE AND FEMALE.

This is another species of our birds with the habits of which I am entirely unacquainted. Dr RICHARDSON’s account of it is as follows:—“The northern limits of the range of the Sharp-tailed Grous is Great Slave Lake, in the sixty-first parallel; and its most southern recorded station is in latitude 41°, on the Missouri. It abounds on the outskirts of the Saskatchewan plains, and is found throughout the woody districts of the Fur Countries, haunting open glades or low thickets on the borders of lakes, particularly in the neighbourhood of the trading paths, where the forests have been partially cleared. In winter it perches generally on trees, in summer is much on the ground; in both seasons assembling in coveys of from ten to sixteen. Early in spring, a family of these birds select a level spot, whereon they meet every morning, and run round in a circle of fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, so that the grass is worn quite bare. When any one approaches the circle, the birds squat close to the ground, but in a short time stretch out their necks to survey the intruder; and, if they are not scared by a nearer advance, soon resume their circular course, some running to the right, others to the left, meeting and crossing each other. These “Partridge dances” last for a month or more, or until the hens begin to hatch. When the Sharp-tailed Grous are put up, they rise with the usual whirring noise, and alight again at the distance of a few hundred yards, either on the ground, or on the upper branches of a tree. Before the cock quits his perch, he utters repeatedly the cry of _cuck_, _cuck_, _cuck_. In winter they roost in the snow like the Willow Grous, and they can make their way through the loose wreaths with ease. They feed on the buds and sprouts of the _Betula glandulosa_, of various willows, and of the aspen and larch; and in autumn on berries. Mr HUTCHINS says that the hen lays thirteen white eggs with coloured spots early in June; the nest being placed on the ground and formed of grass, lined with feathers.”

Dr TOWNSEND informs me that while crossing the north branch of the Platte (Lorimie’s Fork), he found this species breeding, and that as an article of food it proved to be a very well-flavoured and plump bird, considerably superior to any of the other larger species that occur in the United States.

TETRAO PHASIANELLUS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p.
273.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 635.—_Ch. Bonaparte_,
Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 127.

TETRAO PHASIANELLUS, SHARP-TAILED GROUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_,
Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 37, pl. 19.

TETRAO (CENTROCERCUS) PHASIANELLUS, _Swains._ Sharp-tailed
Grous, _Richards._ and _Swains._ Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p.
361.

SHARP-TAILED GROUS, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. i. p. 669.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXII. Fig. 1.

Bill short, strong, as broad as high; upper mandible with the dorsal line arcuato-declinate, the ridge narrow at the base on account of the great extent of the nasal sinus, which is feathered, the sides convex toward the end, the edges overlapping and thin, the tip declinate and blunt, but thin-edged; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length and width, the dorsal line ascending and convex, the edges sharp and inclinate, the tip obtuse.

Head rather small, oblong; neck of moderate length; body full. Feet rather short, stout; tarsus roundish, feathered, bare and reticulated behind. Toes of moderate size, with numerous scutella above, but covered over at the base by the hair-like feathers which grow from the sides and the intervening basal membranes, laterally pectinate with long slender projecting flattened scales; first toe small, second a little longer than fourth, third much longer. Claws slender, arched, moderately compressed, rather obtuse; that of the third toe with the inner edge dilated.

Plumage dense, soft, rather compact, the feathers in general broadly ovate; those on the head and upper part of the neck short, but some on the upper and hind part of the former elongated and forming a slight crest. There is a papillate coloured membrane over the eye, as in the other species; and on each side of the neck is a large bare space, concealed by the plumage, which I have no doubt is inflated, as in _Tetrao Cupido_ and _T. Urophasianus_, during the love season. Wings rather short, concave, much rounded; the primaries stiff and very narrow, so as to leave large intervals when the wing is extended; the third quill longest, the fourth next, the second shorter than the fifth, the sixth longer than the first. Tail short, much graduated, of sixteen feathers, of which the lateral are three inches shorter than the central; all the feathers are more or less concave, excepting the two middle worn along the inner edge, obliquely and abruptly terminated, the two middle projecting an inch beyond the next.

Bill dusky above, brown beneath; iris light hazel; superciliary membrane vermilion; toes brownish-grey, claws brownish-black. The upper parts are variegated with light red or brownish-orange, brownish-black and white; the black occupying the central part of the feathers, the light red forming angular processes from the margin, generally dotted with black, and a lighter bar near the end; the white being in terminal, triangular, or guttiform spots on the scapulars and wing-coverts. The alula, primary coverts, secondary coverts, and quills are greyish-brown, the coverts spotted and tipped with white; the primaries with white spots on the outer web, the inner tipped with white, as are all the secondaries, of which the outer have two bars of white spots, and the inner are coloured like the back. The tail is white, at the base variegated, and the two middle feathers like the back. Loral space, and a line behind the eye, white; a dusky streak beneath the eye, succeeded by a light coloured one. The throat is reddish-white, with some dusky spots; the fore part and sides of the neck barred with dusky and reddish-white: on the lower part of the neck and fore part of the breast, the dusky bars become first curved, and then arrow-shaped, and so continue narrowing on the hind part of the breast, and part of the sides, of which the upper portion is barred; the abdomen, lower tail-coverts, axillar feathers, and most of the lower wing-coverts, white. The hair-like feathers of the tarsi are light brownish-grey, faintly barred with greyish-white.

Length to end of tail 17-1/2 inches, to end of wings 14, to end of claws 17; extent of wings 23; wing from flexure 8-1/4, tail 4-1/2; bill along the ridge (10-1/2)/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1-(1-1/2)/12; tarsus 1-(7-1/2)/12; hind toe 6/12, its claw 6/12: middle toe 1-(7-1/2)/12, its claw 7/12.

Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXXII. Fig. 2.

The Female is considerably smaller, but is coloured like the male, the tints being duller.

LONG-EARED OWL.

_STRIX OTUS_, LINN.

PLATE CCCLXXXIII. MALE.

This Owl is much more abundant in our Middle and Eastern Atlantic Districts than in the Southern or Western parts. My friend Dr BACHMAN has never observed it in South Carolina; nor have I met with it in Louisiana, or any where on the Mississippi below the junction of the Ohio. It is not very rare in the upper parts of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky, wherever the country is well wooded. In the Barrens of Kentucky its predilection for woods is rendered apparent by its not being found elsewhere than in the “Groves;” and it would seem that it very rarely extends its search for food beyond the skirts of those delightful retreats. In Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to the eastward, I have found it most numerous on or near the banks of our numerous clear mountain streams, where, during the day, it is not uncommon to see it perched on the top of a low bush or fir. At such times it stands with the body erect, but the tarsi bent and resting on a branch, as is the manner of almost all our Owls. The head then seems the largest part, the body being much more slender than it is usually represented. Now and then it raises itself and stands with its legs and neck extended, as if the better to mark the approach of an intruder. Its eyes, which were closed when it was first observed, are opened on the least noise, and it seems to squint at you in a most grotesque manner, although it is not difficult to approach very near it. It rarely on such occasions takes to wing, but throws itself into the thicket, and makes off on foot by means of pretty long leaps.

I have never seen this bird moving on wing to a sufficient distance to enable me to speak with certainty of its mode of flight, especially as it is one of our most nocturnal species, seldom beginning to seek for prey before it is quite dusky. In the morning I have never seen one abroad at however early an hour I have been on the look-out.

The Long-eared Owl is careless as to the situation in which its young are to be reared, and generally accommodates itself with an abandoned nest of some other bird that proves of sufficient size, whether it be high or low, in the fissure of a rock or on the ground. Sometimes however it makes a nest itself, and this I found to be the case in one instance near the Juniatta River in Pennsylvania, where it was composed of green twigs with the leaflets adhering, and lined with fresh grass and sheep wool, but without feathers. The eggs are usually four, nearly equally rounded at both ends, thin-shelled, smooth, when newly deposited pure white, with a slight blush, which is no longer observable when they have been for some time sitten upon, their average length an inch and a half, their greatest breadth an inch and three-sixteenths. I found eggs of this bird on the 15th of April, and again on the 25th of June, which induces me to believe that it rears two broods in the season in the State of Pennsylvania, as it probably does also to the westward. WILSON relates the following instance of its indifference as to the place selected for its eggs. “About six or seven miles below Philadelphia, and not far from the Delaware, is a low swamp, thickly covered with trees, and inundated during great part of the year. This place is the resort of great numbers of the Qua-bird or Night Raven (_Ardea Nycticorax_), where they build in large companies. On the 25th of April, while wading among the dark recesses of this place, observing the habits of these birds, I discovered a Long-eared Owl, which had taken possession of one of their nests, and was sitting; on mounting to the nest, I found it contained four eggs, and breaking one of these, the young appeared almost ready to leave the shell. There were numbers of the Qua-birds’ nests on the adjoining trees all around, and one of them actually on the same tree.”

When encamped in the woods, I have frequently heard the notes of this bird at night. Its cry is prolonged and plaintive, though consisting of not more than two or three notes repeated at intervals.

Dr RICHARDSON states that it has been found “as far north as Lat. 60°, and probably exists as high as the forests extend. It is plentiful in the woods skirting the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequents the coast of Hudson’s Bay only in the summer, and retires into the interior in the winter. It resides all the year in the United States, and perhaps is not a rare bird in any part of North America; but as it comes seldom abroad in the day, fewer specimens are obtained of it than of the other Owls. It preys chiefly on quadrupeds of the genus _Arvicola_, and in summer destroys many beetles. It lays three or four roundish white eggs, sometimes on the ground, at other times in the deserted nests of other birds in low bushes. Mr HUTCHINS says it lays in April, and that the young fly in May; and Mr DRUMMOND found a nest on the ground in the same neighbourhood, containing three eggs, on the 5th of July, and killed both the birds. On comparing the above-mentioned eggs with those of the English Long-eared Owl, the American ones proved to be smaller, measuring only an inch and a half in length, and 1.27 inches in breadth; while the English ones measured 1.8 inch in length, and 1-1/4 in breadth. The form and colour were the same in both.”

The food of this Owl consists of rats, mice, and other small quadrupeds, as well as birds of various species; its stomach having been found by me crammed with feathers and other remains of the latter.

There is a marked difference between the sexes. The males are not only smaller than the females, but darker; and this has tempted me to consider the _Strix Mexicanus_ of Mr SWAINSON and the Prince of MUSIGNANO as merely a large female of our Long-eared Owl.

STRIX OTUS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 132.—_Lath._ Ind.
Ornith. vol. i. p 53.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of
United States, p. 37.

LONG-EARED OWL, STRIX OTUS, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p.
52, pl. 50, fig. 1.

STRIX OTUS, LONG-EARED OWL, _Richards. and Swains._ Fauna
Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 72.

LONG-EARED OWL, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. i. p. 130.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXIII.

Bill short, stout; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly curved from the base, towards the end decurved, the ridge broad at the base, narrowed anteriorly, convex in its whole extent, the sides sloping at the base, convex towards the tip, the edges soft and obtuse as far as the nostrils, then sharp and barred to the end, below the nostrils inflected, afterwards direct, the tip acute, and at its extremity descending obliquely; the cere of moderate length, feathered on the sides; the lower mandible straight, its angle elongated, wide, and rounded, the dorsal line very short and slightly convex, the back and sides convex, the edges toward the end sharp and inflected, their outline decurved and with a slight sinus on each side, the tip obliquely truncate. Nostrils medial, lateral, large, oblique, oblong, in the fore edge of the cere, with a tough soft membrane above, and having internally a ridge curved backwards from the inner edge.

Head very large, flattened anteriorly; neck short; body very slender, but seeming large on account of the great mass of plumage. Feet of moderate length, and stout; tarsi feathered, short; toes also short, and feathered; the third and fourth connected at the base by a short web; the first shortest, and admitting of much lateral motion, the third longest, the second and fourth nearly equal. On all the toes are two terminal scutella. Claws long, curved in the fourth of a circle, tapering, extremely acute, rounded above, very narrow beneath, the first and second rounded, the rest flat; that of the fourth toe smallest, of the first slightly larger, those of the other toes much larger and nearly equal.

Plumage extremely soft and downy. The facial disks complete, and composed of circular series of weak, slender, slightly recurved feathers, having remote barbs; surrounding which is a ruff formed of several rows of oblong incurved feathers, having the barbs close. The feathers of the forehead are apparent between the ruffs, although that part is very narrow; the bill is partially concealed by the plumage; the feathers are oblong or ovate, and rounded, extremely soft, and blended, those on the tarsi and toes, small, and somewhat silky. Wings long and broad; primaries very broad, rounded, the outer a little incurved towards the end, the first sinuate on the inner web near the end, the second very slightly so; the second longest, the third a little shorter, the fourth a little longer than the first; the outer in its whole length, the second towards the end, and the first alular feather, with the barbs disunited and recurved at the ends. Tail rather short, slightly convex, a little rounded, of twelve broad rounded feathers, having feeble shafts.

Bill brownish-black, cere flesh-coloured; iris orange; claws bluish-grey, dusky towards the end. The colouring of the plumage is very intricate, but may be described as buff, mottled and spotted with brown and greyish-white. The disks are whitish anteriorly, with the tips black, posteriorly reddish-white; the ruff mottled with red and black; the upper part of the head, minutely mottled with whitish, brownish-black, and light red; the tufts light reddish toward the base, brownish-black in the central part toward the end, the inner edge white, dotted with dark-brown. The upper parts are buff, variegated with brown and whitish-grey, minutely mottled or undulatingly barred. The first row of coverts tipped with white on the outer web; the edge of the wing, and the outer margin of the first alular feather also white; the alula and primary coverts greyish-brown barred with darker; the quills and scapulars pale grey, barred with dark brown, and having more or less buff towards the base of the outer web, that colour being conspicuous on the six outer primaries. The tail is barred and mottled in the same manner, the bars very narrow, ten on the middle and eight on the outer feathers. The lower parts are in general similar to the upper, but with more buff, and fewer spots, each feather with a long dark brown streak and several irregular transverse bars. The legs and toes are pure buff. The lower surface of the wing is yellowish-white, a few of the coverts with a brown spot; the quills banded with brown towards the end. The lower tail-coverts have a narrow central brown line.

Length to end of tail 14-1/2 inches, to end of claws 14-3/4, to end of wings 15; extent of wings 38; wing from flexure 11-1/2; tail 6; bill along the ridge 1-5/12; tarsus 1-8/12; hind toe (7-1/2)/12, its claw 8/12; second toe 1, its claw 9/12; third toe 1-2/12, its claw 10/12; fourth toe 8/12, its claw 7/12. Weight 8 oz.

The Female is considerably larger, and of a lighter colour than the male, but otherwise similar.

A male sent in spirits from Boston by Dr BREWER:—The roof of the mouth is flat, with two longitudinal ridges, the sides ascending; the posterior aperture of the nares oblong, 4 twelfths long, with an anterior fissure. The tongue is 7-1/2 twelfths long, deeply emarginate and papillate at the base, flattish above, with a faint median groove, the sides parallel, the tip narrowed and emarginate. The mouth is very wide, measuring 1 inch and 1-1/2 twelfth. The œsophagus is 5-1/2 inches long, of nearly uniform diameter throughout, as in all other Owls, its breadth being 1 inch. The proventricular glandules form a belt 9 twelfths in diameter. The stomach is large, round, 1 inch 9 twelfths long, 1 inch 7 twelfths broad, its walls thin, its muscular coat composed of rather coarse fasciculi, but without distinction into lateral muscles, the tendinous spaces circular, and about 8 twelfths in diameter; its epithelium soft and rugous. The duodenum is 3 twelfths in diameter, and curves at the distance of 3 inches from the pylorus. The intestine is 23 inches long, its smallest diameter only 1 twelfth. The cœca, Fig. 2, are in this individual unequal, as they very frequently are in Owls; the largest being 2 inches 10 twelfths in length, their greatest diameter 5-1/2 twelfths, their distance from the anus 3 inches and a quarter. The cloaca is of an enormous size, ovate, 2 inches long, 1 inch 2 twelfths broad. It contains a calculous concretion 9 twelfths long, 7 twelfths broad, and 3 twelfths thick.

The trachea, which is 3 inches long, is 3-1/2 twelfths in breadth at the upper part, 2-1/2 twelfths in the middle, and 3 twelfths at its lower extremity; its rings about 75 in number, cartilaginous, and considerably flattened. The lateral muscles are strong, the sterno-tracheal moderate, and there is a single pair of very slender inferior laryngeal muscles. Five of the lower rings are elongated, arched, and slit. The bronchi are rather long, of 12 half rings.

The conch of the ear, Fig. 1, is of enormous size, extending from the level of the forehead over the eye to the chin, in a semilunar form, of which the posterior curve is 3 inches, and the distance between the two extremities in a direct line 1 inch and a half. There is an anterior semicircular flap in its whole length, 5 twelfths in breadth at the middle. The aperture or meatus externus is of a rhomboidal form 4-1/2 twelfths in length, 3-1/2 twelfths broad, bounded anteriorly by the eye, posteriorly by a ligament extended along the edge of the occipital bone, above by a ligament stretching to the operculum, below the articulation of the lower jaw. Above the meatus is a deep depression covered with skin, above which another ligament stretches across to the operculum.

In another specimen, a female, the œsophagus is 5-1/2 inches long, its average diameter 11 twelfths. The intestine is 21 inches long, from 2-1/2 twelfths to 1 twelfth in diameter; the cœca are 2-1/4 inches in length; their greatest diameter 4 twelfths; the cloaca still larger than that of the other individuals, being 2 inches long.

BLACK-THROATED BUNTING.

_EMBERIZA AMERICANA_, GMEL.

PLATE CCCLXXXIV. MALE AND FEMALE.

Although this handsome Bunting may be said to be abundant in our middle Atlantic districts, it is there much less so than in the vast prairies of the south-west; and I consider those of the Texas to afford the localities best adapted to its habits. There, as my companions and I were returning from the capital of the infant republic, Houston, we were surprised to see how very numerous the Black-throated Buntings were in every open piece of ground covered by tufts of tall grass. They are also abundant on the open lands of Missouri and Illinois: but rarer in Ohio, and scarce in Kentucky. They are rarely observed to pass over South Carolina, but in Pennsylvania they are plentiful, and there breed in every field covered with grass or grain. I have also met with them in Massachusetts, but beyond this they are not seen to the eastward.

At the approach of the period of their removal from our Middle States southward, the Black-throated Buntings congregate in particular localities, as if to consult regarding their future proceedings. At this season I once went from Philadelphia in search of them, accompanied by my friend EDWARD HARRIS, and my son JOHN WOODHOUSE. Having reached Salem in New Jersey, we rambled some time in the neighbourhood, and found an elevated piece of ground, closely covered with high rank weeds, among which a great number of these birds had assembled. It being late in July, the males were moulting, or had already acquired their new plumage; the young, although full grown, had not yet assumed their second clothing, in which the sexes are distinguished; and the females were generally ragged. The birds were at first quite gentle, but after we had fired a few times they all flew off to a considerable distance, from which, however, they soon returned. On our continuing to harass them, however, they rose high in the air, and flew out of our sight in a southward direction. They had then undoubtedly begun migrating. These birds are very partial to particular localities. Sandy soil, unmixed with clay or earth, is not favourable to them; and it is probably for this reason that none are found in any purely sandy part of the State of New Jersey.

The Black-throated Buntings reach our Middle States about the 10th or 15th of May, and at once betake themselves to the dry meadow lands and grain fields, where they soon after begin to breed. The males are often observed perched on the top branches of the shade trees found in those places, and engaged in delighting their mates with their simple ditty, which, according to my learned friend Mr NUTTALL, resembles _’tic ’tic-tshĕ tshĕ tshĕ tshe_, and _tship tship_, _tschĕ tschĕ tschĕ tschip_. To my ears the notes of our Black-throated Bunting so much resemble those of the Corn Bunting of Europe, _Emberiza Miliaria_, that I have often been reminded of the one by hearing the song of the other. These unmusical notes are almost continuously uttered from sunrise to sunset, and all this while the female is snugly seated on her eggs, and listening to her beloved. He often visits her, alighting within a few yards of where she is concealed, and then cautiously proceeding toward the spot on foot, through the grass. When the bird leaves the nest, it creeps along to some distance, and then flies off low over the ground.

About the first of June the nest is formed. It is constructed of fine grass neatly woven in a circular form, and is partly imbedded in the soil, and sheltered or concealed by a tuft of herbage. The eggs, usually five, are six and a half eighths in length, four and three-fourths in breadth, of a sullied white, generally sprinkled with faint touches of different tints of umber. In Pennsylvania, it seldom rears more than one brood in the season; but in the Texas, I have reason to believe that it raises two.

The flight of this bird, when it has settled in a place, is usually of short extent. The male, while passing to and fro from the nest, exhibits a quivering motion of the wings. The female seldom shews this, unless when her property is in danger from intruders. While travelling, which they always do by day, they pass high over the trees, in flocks of thirty or forty, which suddenly alight at the approach of night, and throw themselves into the most thickly-leaved trees, where they repose until dawn. I have surprised them in such situations both in Kentucky and in Louisiana, and on shooting into the place to which they had betaken themselves, although I could not see them, have procured several at one discharge; which proved in one instance to be males, and in the other females, thus shewing that the sexes travel separately. On such occasions, the survivors would sally forth, make a few rapid evolutions, and alight on the same tree.

In spring, I have found them, on two or three occasions, near Natchez, in the State of Mississippi, in meadows, in company with Bob-o-links, _Emberiza Oryzivora_. On the ground they leap or hop, but never walk. Their flesh is good, especially that of the young birds.

EMBERIZA AMERICANA, _Gmel._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p.
872.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 411.

BLACK-THROATED BUNTING, EMBERIZA AMERICANA, _Wils._ Amer.
Ornith. vol. i. p. 54, pl. 3, fig. 2, male.

FRINGILLA AMERICANA, _Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of
United States, p. 107.

BLACK-THROATED BUNTING, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. i. p. 461.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXIV. Fig. 1.

Bill of moderate length, stout, conical, compressed toward the end; upper mandible with the dorsal line slightly declinate and convex, the ridge indistinct, the sides convex, the edges a little inflected, ascending to beneath the nostrils, then descending, with a slight notch close to the narrow tip: lower mandible with the angle short and wide, the dorsal line ascending and very slightly convex, the ridge broad at the base, the sides convex, the edges ascending at the base, then straight and involute to the end, the tip narrow. Nostrils basal, roundish in the fore part of the very short and wide nasal depression.

Head large, ovate; neck very short; body rather stout. Feet of moderate length, rather strong; tarsus of ordinary length, compressed, with seven anterior scutella, thin-edged behind; toes rather large; the hind one strong and longer than the lateral, which are equal, the third much longer, and united to the fourth at the base. Claws long, arched, much compressed, acute.

Plumage soft and blended, but firm. Wings of moderate length, acute; the first quill longest, the second slightly shorter, the other primaries graduated; secondaries slightly emarginate. Tail of moderate length, emarginate, of twelve rather narrow, obliquely pointed feathers.

Bill light blue; iris hazel; feet light brownish-red, claws of the same colour. The upper part of the head, the cheeks and the hind neck are ash-grey, the feathers on the head with a central blackish streak; loral space, a band over the eye, and a shorter one beneath it, bright yellow. The fore part of the back greyish-brown, with longitudinal streaks of brownish-black; the hind parts brownish-grey. The smaller wing-coverts are bright chestnut, the quills and large coverts blackish-brown, the primaries narrowly, the secondaries and their coverts broadly edged with pale greyish-brown. The tail is dark greyish-brown, the feathers faintly margined with paler. The fore neck is light yellow, the throat at first white, then with a large patch of black; the breast, sides, abdomen, legs and lower tail-coverts white, the breast tinged with yellow, the sides with grey; the lower wing-coverts yellow.

Length to end of tail 6-1/2 inches, to end of wings 5, to end of claws 6-1/4; extent of wings 10-3/8; wing from flexure 3-3/8; tail 2-1/2; bill along the ridge 7/12, along the edge of lower mandible 8/12; tarsus (10-1/2)/12; hind toe (4-1/2)/12, its claw (5-1/2)/12,; middle toe 8/12, its claw (4-1/2)/12.

Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXXIV. Fig. 2.

The Female has the upper parts coloured as in the male, but paler; the lower parts are also similar, but in place of the black patch on the throat, there are only two dusky lines from the base of the lower mandible, and some faint streaks on the lower part of the neck and the sides.

Length to end of tail 6, to end of wings 4, to end of claws 5-7/8; extent of wings 9; wing from flexure 3; tail 2-5/12; bill along the ridge (6-1/2)/12; tarsus (10-1/2)/12; hind toe (4-1/2)/12, its claw 5/12; middle toe 3/12, its claw (3-1/2)/12.

In an adult male, the roof of the mouth has anteriorly three longitudinal ridges, and two lateral grooves; the palate descends obliquely, and at its anterior part has a distinct prominence of a softish texture; from which there passes backwards and outwards, a large soft ridge on each side of the nasal aperture; which is linear and papillate. The tongue is 5-1/2 twelfths long, narrow, deep, trigonal, deeply emarginate and papillate at the base, soft for half its length, convex and hard towards the end, which terminates with bristly points. The œsophagus, _a b c d_, is 2-1/2 inches long, dilated along the greater part of the neck into a kind of crop, _b_, 5 twelfths in diameter, lying on the right side along with the trachea. The proventriculus, _c d_, is not much enlarged. The stomach, _e f_, is a strong gizzard, of a broad elliptical form, 7-1/2 twelfths in length, 6-1/2 twelfths in breadth. Its contents are small hard seeds, a few remains of insects, and some particles of sand. The epithelium is very tough, longitudinally rugous, and of a dark reddish-brown colour. The intestine, _f g h_, is 8-1/2 inches long, its greatest diameter 2 twelfths. The rectum, _j k l_, is 9 twelfths long; the cœca, _j_, extremely small, being 1-1/2 twelfth long and 1/2 twelfth in diameter.

The trachea, which is 1 inch 10 twelfths long, is rather wide, flattened, of uniform diameter, measuring 1-3/4 inch across, the rings about 55, and ossified. The contractor muscles are of moderate strength; the sterno-tracheal slender; and there are four pairs of inferior laryngeal. The bronchi have about 15 half rings.

In its habits, this bird closely resembles the Common or Corn Bunting of Europe, its flight and notes being almost the same. Like it, our bird alights on walls, fences, detached rocks, or eminences of any kind, where it is often seen even in the immediate neighbourhood of our cities. Indeed, I have found it in full song perched on the trees that ornament the squares of Washington city. In the form of its bill it also agrees with the Buntings, although that organ is proportionally longer and less attenuated toward the end. If, on the principle of minute division, it is not admitted into the genus _Emberiza_, it must at least occupy a place in its immediate proximity.

The plants represented are the _Phalaris arundinacea_ and _Antirrhinum Linaria_, both common in many parts of the United States, as well as in Europe; the former growing in wet meadows and by the sides of rivers, the latter in fields and waste places, a troublesome weed, very difficult to be extirpated.

BANK SWALLOW OR SAND MARTIN.

_HIRUNDO RIPARIA_, LINN.

PLATE CCCLXXXV. MALE, FEMALE, AND YOUNG.

Imagine, Reader, how delighted I was when, in East Florida, in the winter of 1831, I found thousands of Bank Swallows gaily skimming over the waters, and along the shores of the rivers and inlets. So numerous indeed were they that I felt inclined to think that the greater part of those which are in summer dispersed over the United States, and the regions still farther north, must have congregated to form those vast swarms. The first time I saw them was before sunrise, when I stood by the side of Lieutenant PERCY of our Navy, on the deck of the United States’ schooner the Spark, then at anchor opposite St Augustine. The weather though warm, was thick and drizzly, so that we could not see to a great distance; but as probably some hundreds of thousands passed close to the vessel, in long and rather close flocks, I was well enabled to assure myself that the birds were of this species. On my expressing my surprise and delight at beholding so vast a concourse, Lieutenant PERCY assured me, that he had seen them on all the streams which he had visited south of where we then were. The weather cleared up in a few hours, the sun shone brightly, and the little creatures were seen all around, dipping into the water to wash themselves, gambolling close over its surface, and busily engaged in procuring insects, which in that country are always abundant. In the course of the same season I also observed a good number of our Green-backed and Barn Swallows, but few compared with what is seen about New Orleans.

We can thus account for the early appearance of the Bank Swallows in our Middle Districts. That species always arrives there sooner than the rest, sometimes preceding them by a fortnight, and keeping equally in advance as far northward as its range extends. The Green-backed Swallow, _Hirundo bicolor_, follows closely after it; then the Purple Martin, _Hirundo purpurea_; after which are seen the Barn Swallow, _Hirundo rustica_, and lastly, on our eastern Atlantic coasts, the American Swift, _Cypselus Americanus_. It is probable that these species extend their autumnal migrations southward in a degree proportionate to the lateness of their appearance in Spring. I have likewise observed the arrival of the Bank Swallows on the waters of the Serpentine River and those of the Regent’s Park, in London, to be in the same proportion earlier than that of the other species which visit England in spring, and have thought that, as with us, the first mentioned species retires to a less distance in winter than the rest.

The Bank Swallow has been observed on both sides of North America, and in all intermediate places suited to its habits. This is easily accounted for, when we reflect how easy it is for these birds to follow our great water-courses to their very sources. Even the ponds and lakes of our vast forests are at times visited by them; but no person seems to have been aware of the existence of two species of Bank Swallows in our country, which, however, I shall presently shew to be the case.