232 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



The Acadian Owl is a rare permanent resident of north- 

 ern jSTew York and New England, and a rare migrant and 

 winter visitant in southern New York and New England. 

 Its notes, which have given this owl one of its names, 

 suggest the rasping sound made in filing a saw. It is 

 smaller than a Screech Owl, and is readily distinguished by 

 the absence of ear-tufts. The spots of white on the brown 

 back, moreover, give it a very different tone of color from 

 that of the Screech Owl, with its fine streaking of black 

 and reddish-brown, or gray. 



Barred Owl. Syrnium variuin 

 20.00 



Upper parts dark brown, barred or spotted with buffy; lower 

 parts whitish, barred with brown across the breast; belly striped 

 with brown ; disk gray; bill yellowish ; no ear-tufts. 



Nest, in trees, usually in hollows, sometimes in a deserted 

 hawk's or crow's nest. Eggs, white. 



The Barred Owl is a permanent resident of New York 

 and New England. Like most of the large owls, it is now 

 rare and confined to the wilder, more heavily wooded dis- 

 tricts, where its hooting is a characteristic sound of Mild, 

 swampy woods. Its ordinary cry is composed of a regular 

 number of syllables, about eight in all, divided into two 

 sets of four each, very similar in form ; the second, how- 

 ever, ends in a deep hollow note with a downward cadence. 

 It raav be written hoo hoo hob hoo, hoo hoo hob hoo'-aiv. 

 Its regular form and the falling cadence at the close 

 distinguish it from the other common hootinc; sound in the 

 wild forests, that of the Horned Owl. It is oftener heard 

 in winter and early spring than in summer ; it is regularly 

 uttered in the evening, but not infrequently in the daytime 

 also, especially in answer to an imitation of the cry, or be- 

 cause of some other unusual excitement. 



Sometimes the Barred Owl is discovered in the davtime, 



