SYRNIUM.—NYCTALA. 11 
dinally streaked, and by the head and neck being marked with roundish spots and not 
with transverse bars. 
The original specimen described by Xantus in 1859 was obtained near Fort Tejon, 
California}, but only recently has its range been traced over the adjoining States 
forming the southern portion of the Middle Province of North America to Arizona and 
Lower California, States joining our northern border. The evidence of its occurrence 
in Mexico is not very complete. The British Museum contains an example said to 
be from that country, but it was acquired from a dealer in 1866. Captain Bendire, 
however, states precisely ®, without giving his authorities, that it occurs over the higher 
tablelands of Mexico to Guanajuato in lat. 21° N. In his work also will be found the 
fullest account of the habits of this Owl, so far as then known. Dr. Fisher also gives 
a summary of the published notes concerning it®. ‘These all refer to birds found beyond 
our border. 
NYCTALA. 
Nyctala, Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1271; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. i. p. 284. 
Nyctala is a northern genus containing two species, one of which, WV. tengmaima, is 
found in the northern parts of the Old World and in similar regions in the New; the 
other, WV. acudica, is strictly a bird of North America, extending its range through 
Mexico to Guatemala. Both are small Owls with peculiarly silky plumage, without 
feathered ear-tufts, but with the osseous portion of the skull about the ears curiously 
asymmetrical, one side being much more swollen than the other. The toes are densely 
feathered to the base of the claws. 
1. Nyctala acadica. 
Acadian Owl, Lath. Gen. Syn. i. p. 149, t. 5. £. 2°. 
Strix acadica, Gm. Syst. Nat. 1. p. 296°. 
Nyctala acadica, Scl. P.Z.S. 1858, p. 295°; Ridgw. in Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. Birds, 
iii, p. 43‘; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 287°; Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, i. 
p. 350, t. 12. f. 7°; Fisher, Bull. U. 8. Dep. Agr. no. 9, p. 160’. 
Supra brunnea, capite summo albo striato ; scapularibus extrorsum albo maculatis, tectricibus alarum mediis et 
primariis extus albo maculatis, facie alba: subtus alba rufo maculata, tibiis rufescenti-albis ; cauda fusca, 
fasciis indistinctis albis notata. Long. tota circa 7°5, ale 5°6, caude 2°65, tarsi 1:0. (Descr. exempl. ex 
Chimalpa, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 
Juv, Supra brunnea unicolor; subtus usque ad imum pectus quoque brunnea, abdomine toto pallidiore ; 
tectricibus auricularibus nigricanti-brunneis; fronte, superciliis et macula utrinque rictali albis; scapularibus 
cervino maculatis; alis albo maculatis ; cauda nigricante, albo bifasciata. 
Hab. Norra America, Canada and Northern States, Mountains of Western and South- 
western States 4+.—Mexico, Chimalpa in the Valley of Mexico (ferrari-Perez), 
Cinco Sefiores (Boucard *) ; GuaTEMALA, Quezaltenango ( O. S.). 
Though a common and well-known bird in North America and fully described by 
American authors, but little is known of this Owl in Mexico or Central America. 
2* 
