232 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



The Acadian Owl is a rare permanent resident of north- 

 ern New 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 varium 

 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 wild, 

 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 may be written Jwo hoo hob hob, hoo hoo hob hoo'-aw. 

 Its regular form and the falling cadence at the close 

 distinguish it from the other common hooting 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 daytime, 



