A Synopsis of the Birds of North America. John James Audubon
CCCLXXX. Male and Female.
General colour of upper parts greyish-brown tinged with olive; feathers of the head with an elliptical central white spot; those of the neck with a larger spot; scapulars with two or four large round spots near the end, and some of the dorsal feathers and wing-coverts with single spots on the outer web; all the quills margined with white spots on both webs, arranged in transverse series, there being six on the outer web of the third; on the tail five series of transversely elongated white spots. Disk yellowish-white, anteriorly black; ruff yellowish-white, mottled with dusky; throat brown, chin white; lower parts yellowish-white, longitudinally streaked with brown; some of the feathers of the sides with two white spots; tarsal and digital feathers greyish-yellow, with faint transverse brown bars.
Male, 11, wing 610/12. Female, 12.
From Maine on the east, and from Columbia River on the west, northward.
Strix Tengmalmi, Tengmalm's Owl, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 94.
Tengmalm's Owl, Strix Tengmalmi, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 559.
33. 2. Ulula Acadica, Gmel. Acadian Night-Owl. – Little Owl. Saw-whet
Plate CXCIX. Male and Female.
General colour of upper part olivaceous brown; scapulars and some of the wing-coverts spotted with white; the first six primary quills obliquely barred with white; tail darker, with two narrow white bars; upper part of head streaked with greyish-white; disks pale yellowish-grey; ruff white, spotted with dusky. Lower parts whitish, the sides and breast marked with broad elongated patches of brownish-red.
Male, 71/2, 17. Female, 81/2, 18.
From North Carolina on the east, and from Columbia River on the west, northward.
Little Owl, Strix passerina, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 61.
Strix acadica, Bonap. Syn. p. 38.
Strix acadica, American Sparrow Owl, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 97.
Acadian Owl, Strix acadica, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 137.
Little or Acadian Owl, Strix acadica, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 567: v. v. p. 397.
GENUS III. STRIX, Linn. SCREECH-OWL
Bill short, compressed, deep, strong; upper mandible with its dorsal outline straight to the end of the cere, then curved, the sides nearly flat and erect, the tip deflected, with a rounded but sharp-edged point; lower mandible with the dorsal line convex, the sides convex, the edges arched, the tip obliquely truncate. Conch of the ear semicircular, extending from over the anterior angle of the eye to the middle of the lower jaw; aperture large, somewhat square, with an anterior operculum fringed with feathers. Legs rather long, tarsus long, feathered, scaly at the lower part; toes large, the first short, the inner nearly as long as the middle, all with series of small tuberculiform oblong scales, intermixed with a few bristles, and three broad scutella at the end. Claws arched, long, extremely sharp, the edge of the third thin and transversely cracked in old birds. Plumage very soft and downy; facial disks complete. Wings long, ample, rounded; the first quill with the filaments recurved. Tail rather short, even.
34. 1. Strix Americana, Aud. American Screech-Owl. – Barn Owl
Plate CLXXI. Male and Female.
Feathers margining the operculum with the shaft and webs undeveloped. Bill pale greyish-yellow; claws and scales brownish-yellow. General colour of upper parts greyish-brown, with light yellowish-red interspersed, produced by very minute mottling; each feather having toward the end a central streak of deep brown, terminated by a small oblong greyish-white spot; wings similarly coloured; secondary coverts and outer edges of primary coverts with a large proportion of light brownish-red; quills and tail transversely barred with brown; lower parts pale brownish-red, fading anteriorly into white, each feather having a small dark brown spot at the tip.
Closely allied to Strix flammea, but larger, and differing somewhat in colour, being generally darker, with the ruff red. A character by which they may always be distinguished is found in the operculum, the feathers margining which are in the present species reduced to their tubes, the shafts and filaments being wanting, whereas in the European species each tube bears a very slender shaft, about half an inch long, and furnished with about half a dozen filaments on each side.
Male, 17, 42. Female, 18, 46.
Southern States. Breeds from Texas to North Carolina. Never seen in the interior, or to the north. Rather common.
White or Barn Owl, Strix flammea, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 57.
Strix flammea, Bonap. Synops. p. 38.
White or Barn Owl, Strix flammea, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 139.
Barn Owl, Strix flammea, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. ii. p. 403: v. v. p. 388.
GENUS IV. SYRNIUM, Cuv. HOOTING-OWL
Bill short, stout, broad at the base; upper mandible with its dorsal outline convex to the end of the cere, then curved, the sides sloping and nearly flat, the tip compressed, decurved, acute; lower mandible small, with the dorsal line convex, the tip narrow, the edges decurved toward the end. Nostrils large, elliptical. Conch of the ear of medium size, and furnished with an anterior semicircular operculum, beset with slender feathers. Legs rather short; tarsi very short, and with the toes feathered. Claws slightly curved, long, slender, compressed, acuminate. Plumage very soft and downy; facial disks complete. Wings very large, much rounded, the outer quill with the tips of the filaments separated and recurved, as are those of the terminal portion of the next; the outer six with the inner webs sinuate. Tail broad, rounded.
35. 1. Syrnium cinereum, Linn. Great Cinereous Hooting-Owl. – Cinereous Owl
Plate CCCLI. Female.
Upper parts greyish-brown, variegated with greyish-white in irregular undulated markings; the feathers on the upper part of the head with two transverse white spots on each web; the smaller wing-coverts of a darker brown, and less mottled than the back; the outer scapulars with more white on their outer webs; primaries blackish-brown toward the end, in the rest of their extent marked with a few broad light grey oblique bands, dotted and undulated with darker; tail similarly barred; ruff-feathers white toward the end, dark brown in the centre; disks on their inner sides grey, with black tips, in the rest of their extent greyish-white, with six bars of blackish-brown very regularly disposed in a concentric manner; lower parts greyish-brown, variegated with greyish and yellowish-white; feet barred with the same.
Female, 301/2, 481/2.
From Massachusetts on the east, and Columbia River on the west, northward. Migratory.
Great Grey or Cinereous Owl, Strix cinerea, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 128.
Cinereous Owl, Strix cinerea, Swain. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 77.
Great Cinereous Owl, Strix cinerea, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. iv. p. 364.
36. 2. Syrnium nebulosum, Linn. Barred Hooting-Owl. Barred Owl
Plate XLVI. Male.
General colour of upper parts light reddish-brown; face and greater part of the head brownish-white; the feathers of the latter broadly marked with brown, of which a narrow band passes from the bill along the middle of the head; feathers of the back and most of the wing-coverts largely spotted with white; primary coverts, quills, and tail, barred with light brownish-red; wings and tail tipped with greyish-white; lower parts pale brownish-red, longitudinally streaked with brown, excepting the neck and upper part of the breast, which are transversely marked, the abdomen, which is yellowish-white, and the tarsal feathers, which are light reddish.
Male, 18, 40.
From Texas to Nova Scotia. Resident in the south and west. Very abundant.
Barred Owl, Strix nebulosa, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 61.
Strix nebulosa, Bonap. Syn. p. 38.
Barred