THE HAWK OWL. 79 



nest, which they do upon every occasion that presents itself. The 

 Snowy Owl will occasionally make its nest on the large turf-hillocks 

 in some of the mosses. 



SURNIA, DuMEKiL 



Surnia, Dumeril, Zoologie Analytique, 34 (1806). 



General form rather long, but robust; size medium; head moderate, without ear- 

 tufts ; facial disc obsolete ; bill moderate, curved from the base, covered with pro- 

 jecting plumes; wings long; tail long, wide, graduated; legs rather short, and with 

 the toes densely feathered; contains one species only, which inhabits the arctic 

 regions of both continents. 



SURNIA ULULA. — Bonaparte. 



The Hawk Owl; Day Owl. 



Strix ulula, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. 133 (1766). 



" Strix funerea,'" Gm. Bonap. Syn. 25. Nutt., I. 115. Aud. Orn. Biog., 

 IV. 550. 



" Stiix Huchonica.'''' Wilson, VL 64. 



Description. 



Wings rather long; first three quills incised on their inner webs; tail long, with 

 its central feathers about two inches longer than the outer; tarsi and toes densely 

 feathered; upper parts fuliginous-brown, with numerous partially concealed circular 

 spots of white on the neck behind, scapulars and wing coverts; face graj'ish-white; 

 throat white, with longitudinal stripes of dark-brown; a large brown spot on each 

 side of the breast; other under parts with transverse lines or stripes of pale ashy- 

 brown; quills and tail brown, with transverse bands of white; bill pale-yellowish; 

 irides yellow ; color of upper parts darker on the head, and the white markings 

 more or less numerous in different specimens. 



Total length, female, sixteen to seventeen inches; wing, nine; tail, seven inches. 

 Male rather smaller. 



This bird is occasionally met with in different localities in 

 New England ; rarely in the summer, most often in the 

 winter. As its name implies, it is diurnal in its habits, 

 and hunts its prey in the hours w^hen most of the other 

 owls are hidden in their retreats. Its food consists of small 

 birds and mice, which it seizes in tlie manner of the hawks. 

 A specimen was obtained in Vermont on a wood-i)ile in a 

 door-yard, where it was eating a woodpecker that it had 

 just captured. Dr. Richardson, in his "Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana," says that, " when the hunters are shooting 

 grouse, this bird is occasionally attracted by the report of 



