424 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Surnia ulula caparoch (Mull.) 



AMERICAN HAWK OWL. 



Popular synonyms. Hudsonian Hawk Owl, or Day Owl. 



Strix fitnen-a'Li-sy. S. N. ed. 12,1,1766,133 (part, but not of 1758). Sw. & RICH. F. B.-A. il, 



1831,92. NUTT. Man. i. 1832, 115. AUD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1834, 350, pi. 378. 

 Surnia fnnerea BP. 1838. AUD. Synop. 1839, 21; B. Am. i, 1840,112, pi. 27. Rroaw.Nom. 



N. Am. B. 1881, No. 407. COUES, 2d Check List, 1882, No. 480. 

 Strix caparoch P. ST. MULLEK, Suppl. S. N. 1779, 69. 



Surnia ulula caparoch STEJNEGEE, The Auk, 1884, 363. 



Strix hudxonia GMEL. S. N. i,pt. 1,1788. 295. WILS. Am. Orn. vi, 1812, 64. pi. 50,flg. 6. 

 Surnia ululavar. hudsonia COUES, Key, 1872, 305; Check List. 1874, No. 326; B. N. W. 



1874, 311. B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. iii, 1874, 75. 



Surnia nlula (LiNN.) CASS in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 64. BATED, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, 

 No. 62. 



HAS. Northern North America, south in winter to northern border of United States 

 (Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, northern Illinois, Massachusetts, etc) . 



SP. CHAE. Adult. Above rich dark vandyke-brown, darker anteriorly, less intense 

 and more grayish on tail. A narrow streak of brownish black originating over the mid- 

 dle of eye, and extending backward above the upper edge of the ear-coverts, where it 

 forms an elbow passing downward in a broad stripe over the ends of the ear-coverts; 

 confluent with this, at about the middle of the vertical stripe, is another of similar tint, 

 which passes more broadly down the side of the nape; between the last stripes (those 

 of opposite sides) is another or median one of less pure black, extending from the occi- 

 put down the nape. Every feather of the forehead, crown, and occiput with a central 

 ovate dot of white: those anterior more circular, on the occiput less numerous and more 

 linear. Between the lateral and posterior nuchal stripes the white prevails, the brown 

 forming irregular terminal and transverse or median spots; these grow more linear 

 toward 1 he back. Interscapulars plain; posterior scapulars variegated with partially 

 concealed large transverse spots of white, the lower feathers with nearly the whole 

 outer webs white, their confluence causing a conspicuous elongated patch above the 

 wing. Rump with sparse, irregular, but generally transverse, spots of white; upper tail- 

 coverts with broader, more irregular bars of the same, these about equal to the brown in 

 width. Lower feathers of the middle and secondary wing-coverts each with an ovoid 

 spot of white on the outer web; secondaries crossed by about three transverse series of 

 longitudinally ovoid white spots (situated on the edge of the feather), and very narrowly 

 tipped with the same; primary coverts with one or two less continuous transverse 

 series of spots, these found only on the outer feathers; primaries with about seven 

 transverse series of white spots, these indistinct except on the five outer feathers, on 

 which those anterior to the emargination are most conspicuous; all the primaries are 

 very narrowly margined with white at the ends. Tail with seven or eight very narrow 

 bands of white, those on the middle feathers purely so, becoming obsolete exteriorly; 

 the last is terminal. Eyebrows, lores.and face grayish white, the grayish appearance 

 caused by the blackish shafts of the feathers; that of the face continues (contracting 

 considerably) across the lower part of the throat, separating a large space of dark brown, 

 which covers nearly the whole throat, from an indistinct collar of the same extending 

 across the jugulum this collar uniting the lower ends of the auricular and cervical 

 dusky bands, the space between which is nearly clear white. Ground-color of the lower 

 parts white, but everywhere with numerous very regular transverse bars of deep brown, 

 of a tint more reddish than the back, the brown bars rather more than half as wide as the 

 white ones; across the upper part of the breast (beneath the dark gular collar) the white 

 invades very much and reduces the brown, forming a broad lighter belt across the jugu- 

 lum; below this the brown bars increase in width, their aggregation tending somewhat 

 to a suffusion, giving the white jugular belt better definition. On the legs and toes the 

 bars axe narrower, more distant, and less regular. 



