BUBONID.E THE OWLS. 413 



A female from Alaska (No. 49,802, Nulato, April 28, 1866; W. H. Ball) is considerably 

 darker than the specimen described above; the occiput has numerous circular spots t 

 white, and the tarsi are more thickly spotted; no other differences, however, are appre- 

 ciable. Two specimens from Quebec (Nos. 17,064 and 17,065; Wm. Couper) are exactly 

 similar to the last, but the numerous white spots on the forehead are circular. 



Young. Above uniform dark brown, the sides of the forehead, back to the eyes, and 

 a space beneath the eye to the base of the bill, white; lower parts, from breast back, 

 uniform fulvous or tawny ochraceous. 



This species was included among the "probabilities" in my cata- 

 logue of 1881 (p. 207), having been taken by Dr. Hoy near Eacine, 

 Wisconsin, and being included in Mr. Allen's catalogue of the birds 

 of Iowa. Its only claim, to date, to being a member of the Illinois 

 fauna is the following record, in the Ornithologist and Oologist 

 (Pawtucket, E. I.) for March, 1885, p. 47, by J. E. Dickinson, of 

 Eockford, Winnebago county: 



"Captured one Eichardson's Owl, October 15, 1884. He flew 

 against a store window and was slightly stunned." 



Nyctala acadica (Gmel.) 



SAW- WHET OWL. 



Popular synonyms. Acadian Owl; White-fronted Owl; Kirtland's Owl. 



Strix acadica GMEL. S. N. i, pi. i, 1788, 296. NUTT. Man. i, 1832, 137. AUD. Orn. Biog. ii. 



1834,567; v, 1839, 397, pi. 199. 



Xyctale acadica BP. 1838. CASS. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 58. BAiED.Cat. N. Am. B. 

 1859, No. 56. CouES.Key, 1872, 205; Check List, 1873, No. 328; 2d ed. 1882, No. 483; B. 

 N. W. 1874, 315. B. B. & K. Hist. N. Am. B. iii, 1874, 43. RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 

 1881. No. 401. 



TJlula acadica AUD. Synop. 1839,24; B. Am. i, 1840, 123, pi. 33. 

 Strix albifrons SHAW, Nat. Misc. v, 1794. pi. 171. 



Nyctale alb it ran s CASS. in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858,57. BATED, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 57. 

 Strix passer-ilia WILS. Am. Orn. iv, 1812, 66, pi. 34, fig. 1, (nee LINN.) 

 Nyctale kirtlandi HOY. Proc. Phila. Acad. vi, 1852, 210. CASS. Illustr. 1853, 63, pi. 11. 



HAB. Northern United States and British Provinces; south to about 40 (or a little 

 beyond) in Eastern Province, but in Western Province entirely across into Mexico, on 

 high mountain ranges, and south to Oaxaca. 



SP. CHAE. Adult female (No. 120,044, Washington, D. C., Feb., 1859: C.Drexler). Upper 

 surface plain soft reddish olive, almost exactly as in N.richardsoni; each feather of 

 forehead, anterior part of the crown, and the facial circle, marked with a short median 

 line of white; feathers of the neck white beneath the surface, forming a collar of blotches; 

 lower webs of scapulars white bordered with brown; wing-coverts with a few rounded 

 white spots; alula with the outer feathers broadly edged with white. Primary coverts 

 and secondaries perfectly plain; five outer primaries with semi-rounded white spots on 

 the outer webs, these decreasing toward the ends of the feathers, leaving but aboiit four 

 series well denned. Tail crossed by three widely separated narrow bands of white, 

 formed of spots not touching the shaft on either web; the last band is terminal. "Eye- 

 brow" and sides of the throat white; lores with a blackish suffusion, this more concen- 

 trated around the eye ; face dirty white, feathers indistinctly edged with brownish, caus- 

 ing an indistinctly streaked appearance: the facial circle in its extension across the 

 throat converted into reddish umber spots. Lower parts, generally, silky white, becom- 



