562 APPENDIX. 



of liver-brown on the tips of the feathers. Belly and flanks white, 

 crossed by narrow, regular waving bars of dark-brown. The vent, 

 under tail-coverts, thighs and feet pure white. The linings of the 

 wings white, with the exception of a brown spot on the tips, of the 

 greater interior coverts. Bill and claws bluish-black. Irids yellow. 

 Fascial disk small, incomplete above the orbits. Auditory conch 

 oval, and without an operculum. Egrets more than 2 inches long. 

 Tips of the folded wings, 3^ inches from the end of the rounded tail. 

 The 2d and 3d quills longest. 



TENGMALM'S OWL. 



(Striz Tengmalmi, Temm. Man. d'Orn. i. p. 94. Vieillot, Gal. dea 

 Ois. pi. 23. Richard, and Swains. North. Zool. ii. p. 94. pi. 32. 

 Strix passerina, Forster, Phil. Trans. 62. p. 385. No. 7. New 

 species of Owl, Penn. Arct. Zool. ii. Suppl. p. 60.) 



Sp. Charact. — Dusky-brown spotted with white ; beneath white 

 also blotched with dusky ; tail extending far beyond the tips of 

 the wings, crossed by 5 narrow bands of white spots ; secondaries 

 spotted with white on their outer webs. A small species. 



This is a small and strictly nocturnal species ; and so 

 much so that when it accidentally wanders abroad by day, 

 it is so much dazzled by the light as to be rendered unable 

 to make its escape when surprised, and may then be readily 

 caught by the hand. Its nocturnal cry consists of a single 

 melancholy note, repeated at the long intervals of a minute 

 or two : and it is one of the superstitious practices of the 

 Indians to whistle when they hear it; and if the bird re- 

 mains silent after this interrogatory challenge, the speedy 

 death of the inquirer is augured ; and hence among 

 the Crees it has acquired the ominous appellation of the 

 Bird of Death (Cheepomesees). According to Mr. Hutch- 

 ins, it builds a nest of grass, half way up a pine tree, and 

 lays 2 eggs in the month of May. It feeds on mice and 

 beetles. It probably inhabits all the forests of the fur 



