Spotted Owl 201 



disk in a frame of black and white ; blackish round the eye, obscurely 

 ringed with black and white ; iris blackish, bill dull yellow, claws horny - 

 yellow. Length 19-2 ; wing 13-25 ; tail 9-0 ; tarsus 2-2. 



Young birds are barred throughout except the wing and tail quills, 

 which are as in the adult. 



Distribution. — From Newfoundland and Manitoba south to Georgia 

 and Texas, west to Nebraska and Kansas ; a resident except towards 

 its northern limits. 



The Barred Owl is a rare straggler in Colorado. The only record is 

 that of B. G. Voight, who, reports Aiken, found a pair breeding at 

 Holyoke, in the north-east of the State near the Nebraska line, in 

 March, 1897. One of the birds and two eggs were secured. Gale 

 believed that he saw a pair in the Boulder Valley in 1886, but gives 

 no particulars. 



Habits. — ^The Barred Owl or Hoot-Owl frequents 

 heavy timber in swampy tracts or near water-courses. 

 It is nocturnal as a rule, though occasionally seen abroad 

 in cloudy weather, and has a very loud, weird and un- 

 earthly hoot. Its nest is usually placed in a hollow tree, 

 though sometimes the old nest of a Hawk or Crow is made 

 use of. The pggs, two to four in number, are oval in 

 shape, white in colour, and average 2-00 x 1'70. 



Spotted Owl. Strix occidentalis. 



A.O.U. Checkhst no 369— Colorado Records— H. G. Smith 86, p. 284 ; 

 Morrison 89, p, 66 ; Cooke 97, p. 77 ; Oilman 07, p. 154. 



Description. — Resembling S. varia but smaller, and the head and neck 

 coarsely spotted, not barred, with white ; wing-quills spotted with pale 

 brown and whitish, and broadly tipped with whitish ; below, whitish, 

 barred throughout with brown, with streak -marks on the belly. Length 

 19 ; wing 12 to 13 ; tail 8-5 to 9-0 ; culmen -9. 



Distribution. — From Southern California, Arizona and Colorado 

 south to Lower California and Guanajuato on the Mexican tableland. 



The occurrence of the Spotted Owl in Colorado rests on rather 

 indefinite evidence. Mr. Aiken informs me he examined and identified 

 a specimen brought to him some years ago, killed near Colorado Springs. 

 Oilman states that he observed two examples near Fort Lewis in 

 spring, and Brunner writes me that he saw in the siunmer of 1907 an 

 Owl of this species on the south fork of the Trinchera Creek in 

 Costilla CO. 



