HORNED OWLS, ETC. 181 



gray-coated night woodsman. In the daytime he snuggles up to 

 some gray trunk under the thick branches of a dark spruce, or hides 

 in the leafy canopy of a forest tree. At night he tioats on noiseless 

 wings along the edges of the open parks and meadows, passing 

 from tree to tree and bush to bush, dropping on unsuspecting mice 

 that rustle the grass or venture into the open spaces under the trees, 

 finding an abundance of food even when the snow is deep and the 

 nights crisp and cold. 



With the first thaws of early spring his love-song is heard, —a 

 soft scraping note repeated monotonously in quick succession for 

 half an hour at a time. It usually comes first from the woodpecker 

 hole where he has been spending the day, but later in the evening 

 is repeated from the branches indifferent parts of the woods. Before 

 the snow^ has all gone the eggs are laid, sometimes in the woodpecker 

 hole where his voice was first heard, sometimes in another near by. 

 By the time the first really warm spring weather has come the young- 

 have hatched. Then the old birds are too busy catching mice for 

 their large family to give much time to music, and they are not 

 heard again regularly until the next spring. But they have many 

 soft little talking notes that you can hear by sleeping in their woods 

 on still summer nights. Vernon Bailey. 



372a. N. a. SCOtsea Osgood. Northwest JSaw-whet Owl. 



Similar to N. acadica, but darker, dark markings everywhere heavier ; 

 flanks, legs, and feet more rufeseent. Winy : o.oo, tail 2.()(), tar.sus l.O^i. 



Distribution. — Piiget Sound region, north to Queen Charlotte Islands. 

 B.C. 



GENUS MEGASCOPS. 



General Characters. — Winy : ."3.40-7.80 ; ear tufts more or less con- 

 spicuous ; ear openings small, the two ears alike ; wings rounded, about 

 twice the length of the short rounded tail ; tarsus feathered. 



KEY TO SrECIES. 



1. Toes feathered or bristly. 



2. Size large, wing averaging- alxtut 7 or more. 

 3. Plumag"e dark and heavily mottled. 



4. Dichromatic; l)rown form with back deej) sooty brown. Oregon 



to Sitka kennicottii. J). 1S:1. 



4'. Monochronuitic ; back grayish bn»\vn. Kust df Cascades. 



macfarlanei. p. 1S4. 

 ;; . IMumagc palf .ishy gray, lightly streaked. K'ocky Mduntains. 



niaxwelliae. j). IS;'.. 

 2'. Si/e smaller, wing averaging <>.(!() or less. 



o. Wing averaging less than <"»; plumage dichromatic. 



4. Throat withrtut Fulvous <'ollar. Southwestern Texas and Mexico. 



mccalli, j). IS-M. 



4'.TIiroat witii paitial collar of mottled fulvous in gray pliHSe. 



Mexico and southern Arizona .... tricliopsis, p. 184. 



