THE AMERICAK MOTTLED OWL. 171 



if it were in a state of great suffering ; although this is far from being the 

 case, the song of all birds being an indication of content and happiness. 



" In a state of confinement, it continues to utter its notes with as much 

 satisfaction as if at liberty. They are chiefly heard during the latter part 

 of winter, that being the season of love, Avhen the male bird is particularly 

 attentive to tJie fair one which excites his tender emotions, and around 

 which he flies and struts much in the manner of the Common Pigeon, adding 

 numerous nods and bows, the sight of which is very amusing The nest is 

 placed in the bottom of the hollow trunk of a tree, often not a greater 

 height than six or seven feet from the ground, at other times so high as from 

 thirty to forty feet. It is composed of a few grasses and feathers. The eggs 

 are four or five, of a nearly globular form, and pure white. If not disturbed, 

 this species lays only one set of eggs in the season. 



" The young remain in the nest until they are able to fly. At first they are 

 covered with a downy substance, of a dull, yellowish white. By the middle 

 of August they are fully feathered, and are then generally of the colour 

 exhibited in the plate, although considerable diff'erences exist between indi- 

 viduals : as I have seen some of a deep chocolate colour, and others nearly 

 black. The feathers change their colours as the pairing season advances, 

 and in the first spring the bird is in its perfect dress. The Mottled Owl 

 rests or spends the day, either in a hole of some decayed tree, or in the 

 thickest part of the evergreens, which are found so abundantly in the 

 country, to which it usually resorts during the breeding season, as well as in 

 the depth of winter." 



In 1849, Audubon published in his American Ornithological Biography, 

 vol. 5, page 392, additional interesting observations, fully confirming his 

 information given to the ornithological department of science in 183 1 ; and 

 which, now that the Mottled Owl has been shot in Yorkshire, must be doubly 

 interesting. Audubon sajs: "Although this species inhabits the Oregon 

 Territory and the Columbia River district, where it was found by Dr. Town- 

 send, it is not mentioned by Dr. Richardson as being observed in the Fur 

 Countries. It is, however, met with abundantly in the British provinces of 

 New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, where I pro' 

 cured it. My friend Dr. Bachman says : ' There is no doubt about the 

 correctness of the changes of plumage of this species, for I have seen it in 

 its various stages from red to grey. I kept it more than a year in domestica- 

 tion, when it underw'ent all# its changes. I have taken the young red birds 

 from the nest, and the old in the same hole very grey.' The bird breeds in 

 the red state the following spring, and does not become grey until two years 

 old. Specimens have been procured partially red and grey, in the interme- 

 diate state." 



The tufts on the head are composed of a longitudinal series of ten feathers ; 

 commencing over the middle of the eye, and extending a quarter of an inch 



