74 C. H. Merriam — Birds of Connecticut 



informed that word had been left for me to eall at a house near by. 

 On driving over and meeting the occupant at the gate, I inquired 

 who was sick ? After giving me an evasive answer I was invited 

 into the house. Being well acquainted with the gentleman, and 

 knowing that he had quite a taste for natural history, I began to 

 suspect that it was not professional advice that was wanting. Leav- 

 ing the room for a few minutes, he returned with an Owl. This bird, 

 he informed me, sat upon the verandah early the previous morning, 

 and approaching cautiously, he captured it without its making the 

 least resistance or effort to escape, and put it into a cage. The next 

 morning, from some unknown cause, the bird was found dead, and 

 ' thinking it might be something a little different from any in my 

 collection,' he saved it for me. No one but a naturalist can imagine 

 the satisfaction it afforded me when I beheld Richardson's Owl ; and 

 I assure you that I would not only have gone three miles, but ten 

 times three to obtain it." Several specimens have been taken in 

 Massachusetts.* 



154. Nyctale Acadica (Gmelin) Bonaparte. Acadian Owl ; Saw-whet Owl. 



Resident, though rather rare, or at least not often seen, for, owing 

 to its diminutive size and nocturnal habits, it might be quite common 

 and yet escape notice. Linsley never saw " but two individuals," one 

 of which " was found lying upon his back in a barn-yard in a cold 

 morning in March, 1841, though still living." A specimen was taken 

 at East Haven, Conn., Nov. 26th, 1874, by Dr. F. W. Hall. 



Mr. Coe and Mr. Sage have each fine examples of this species in 

 their cabinets, and the former gentleman showed me a set of five eggs 

 found in a hole in a tree near Portland, Conn. Dr. Wood, of East 

 Windsor Hill, has several specimens taken in that vicinity, and I have 

 lately seen quite a number, killed about New Haven, and throughout 

 the State. It feeds on small birds, mice, grasshoppers, beetles, etc. 

 " For rearing its young the Saw-whet takes possession of the old nest 

 of a crow, or some other large bird, or of a hollow cavity of an old 

 tree."f 



* J. A. Allen's Notes on some of the Rarer Birds of Mass., pp. 47-8. 1869. 

 \ Zadock Thompson's History of Vermont, pp. (56-7. 1842. 



