A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 3. Robert Ridgway
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, 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).
Syrnium occidentale.
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.
12053 ½
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.
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 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