STRIGIDuE: OTHER OWLS. 637 



S. cine'rea. (Lat. cinerea, asliy.) Great Gray Owl. Spectral Owl. Feet completely 

 feathered to claws; bill auJ eyes yellow; 6 primaries cut on inner webs. Entire upper parts 

 dark brown, mottled with grayish-white in confused and intricate pattern, reducible in general 

 to dissipation of bars. Wings and tail similar, broken-barred with grayish-white marblino-. 

 Under parts of the same dark brown and pale gray, the pattern in streaks on breast, in cross- 

 bars on belly and flanks, in spots on feet. The great facial disc watered with dark hwwn and 

 light gray in regular rings concentric with eacli eye, the outermost ring dark brown and stronger 

 than the rest, bounded below with a ragged white collar. Length 2 feet or more; extent about 

 5 feet; wing 16 UO-18.00 inches; tail 11.00-12.50; culmen 1.00 without cere. An immense 

 Owl, one of the largest of all, inhabiting Northern N. Am., straying irregularly south into the 

 U. S. in winter, to southern New England, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Dakota, 

 Montana, Wyoming, Idalio, Oregon, and nortliern California ; common in wooded regions of 

 the fur countries and Alaska, but not frequenting the barren grounds. Nest in trees, of sticks, 

 mosses, and feathers; eggs 2, 3, or 4, not equal-ended and rather small for the bird's appar- 

 ent dimensions, about 2.1.5 X 1-70, laid from April to July. Like others of the genus it 

 is a wood Owl ; while its prowess enables it to prey upon creatures up to the size of Grouse 

 and Hares. 



S. e. lappo'nica. (Lat. Z«^;j;oHicrt, of Lapland.) Lapp OwL. Specimens from Alaska, lighter 

 colored than typical cinerea, and with a basal whitish patch on inner webs of the remiges, have 

 been referred to the European rather than the American variety, the Norton Sound examples 

 being regarded as Old World stragglers of Strix lapponica Retzius, Fu. Suecica, 1800, p. 79; 

 Scotiaptex einereum Icqjponicum Kidgw. Man. 1887, p. 2G0; Scotiaptcx cinerea lapponica 

 CouES, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 904; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895 [No. ;}70 «.]. 

 NYC'TAIiA. (Gr. vvKToKoi, nuktalos, sleepy.) Saw-whet Owls. Skull and ear-parts 

 highly unsymmetrical, latter of great size, fully operculate. Head very large (as in Strix), 

 without pluinicorns ; facial disc complete, with centric eye. Nostril at edge of cere, which is 

 inflated or not. Tail from ^ to § as long as wing, rounded. Third and 4th primaries longest ; 

 1st quite short; 2 or 3 emarginate on inner webs. Feet tliickly and closely featliered to claws. 

 In this interesting genus the ear-parts reach extreme asymmetry, the whole skull seeming mis- 

 shapen. Two species are known, both of small size ; one of circumpolar distribution, with a 

 subspecies peculiar to North America, the other, American. They are notable for the unusual 

 degree of diflFerence between old and young ; and our species are readily distinguished by stronger 

 characters than are ordinarily found between congeneric owls. Eyes yellow in both ; bill yel- 

 lowish in one, black in the other. Adults umber or chocolate-brown above, spotted with 

 white, below white, striped with brown. Young more uniformly brown, with plain dark face 

 and white eyebrows. Nestlings covered with sooty down ; eggs numerous. Nest in trees ; 

 habits strictly nocturnal. 



Analysis of Species. 



Larger : wing about 7.00 ; tail 4.50. Bill yellow ; cere not tumid ; nostrils presenting laterally, and obliquely oval. 



Arctic tengmalmi richardsoni 



Smaller ; wing 5.50 ; tail 2.G7. Bill black ; cere tumid ; nostrils presenting anteriorly, and about circular. U. S. 



acadica 



N. teng'iiialmi rich'ardsoni. (To P. G. Tengmalm and J. Richardson. Fig. 4.%.) Arctic 

 American Saw-whet Owl. Richardson's Owl. Adult : l'p])er parts, indudiui: wings 

 and tail, uniform choc(tlate-brown, spotted with white ; on top of head the spots small and ))ro- 

 fuse, on nape larger and blended into a nuchal collar, on back and wing-coverts large and sparse 

 but tending to form a scapular bar, on wing-quills and tail-feathers in pairs, at opposite edges 

 of the webs, on inner webs larger, more like bars, and more or less run together, esj)ecially on 

 inner secondaries. Under i)arts white, tliickly and confusedly streakeil lengthwise witli color 

 of back. Facial disc mostly white, I)nt with bl:icki.'<h eyelids an«i loral spot, set in a frame of 



