OWLS 



105 



both nests." (Reported in Birds of Connecti- 

 cut.) 



The food consists of such animal matter as 

 they find it most easy to obtain. Dr. A. K. 

 Fisher, who has studied much about the food of 

 Owls, states that of a larjje number of stomachs 

 examined fully 50 per cent, of those that had 

 recently received food contained mice. These 

 birds also eat frogs, lizards, crawfish, spiders, 

 and various insects. Now and then one catches 

 a domestic fowl that has had the temerity to 

 leave the shelter of the hcn-housc and go to 

 roost in some tree. Small birds are also taken 

 at times. This is i)robably the reason why all 

 wild birds have such a dislike for an Owl, and 

 one of the many intcrestins^ sights of the wood- 

 land is to watch a band of Blue Jays leading a 

 mob of feathered friends in an attack on a sleepy 

 sun-dazed, and altogether discomfited Barred 

 Owl. T. (in.nKKT Pe.\kson. 



The Florida, or .Mien's. Barred Owl (Strix 

 varia aUcni) is limited to the coast strip of the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States from South 

 Carolina to Florida and Texas. Its coloration 

 is similar to the type species but its toes are 

 wholly naked except a strip on the outer side of 

 the middle toe. 



The Texas Barred Owl {Strix varia albogiha) 

 is very much more limited in its geographical 

 distribution than the Florida ; it is found only in 



the mesquite area of middle southern Texas. 

 Like the Florida it has the toes without feathers, 

 but its general color is much paler — the ui)])cr 

 parts more conspicuously barred, the bars nearly 

 pure white; the tail-bands, broader, whiter, and 

 more sharply defined ; stripes on under parts 

 narrower and a lighter brown and the buff, 

 decidedly paler ; legs much paler butTy or buffy- 

 white and much less distinctly mottled, some- 

 times immaculate; the bill and feet are much 

 larger. 



The .Spotted Owl (Strix occidentalis occi- 

 dcntalis) and its variant the Northern Spotted 

 Owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) are the western 

 representatives of the Barred Owl — the Spotted 

 Owl is often called the Western Barred Owl. 

 They are smaller than the eastern Owl and have 

 the bars of the upper parts and the stripes of the 

 under parts replaced with spots. The colors of 

 the Spotted Owl are much the same as those of 

 the Barred Owl ; but the Northern Spotted Owl 

 is decidedly darker, the brown being darker in 

 shade and more extended in area, and the 

 amount of white being correspondingly reduced. 

 The Spotted Owl occurs in the mountains of 

 southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, and 

 southern Colorado south to northern Lower 

 California and northwestern Mexico. The 

 Northern Spotted Owl is found in the Pacific 

 coast district of British Columbia, Washington, 

 Oregon, and northern California. 



GREAT GRAY OWL 

 Scotiaptex nebulosa nebulosa (/. R. Forstcr) 



A. O. U. Number 370 See Color Plate 54 



Other Name. — Spectral Owl. 



General Description. — Length, 30 inches ; spread 

 ot wings, 60 inches. Phimage, grayish-brown, darker 

 and waved above, lighter and streaked below. 



Color. — .Adults: General color of upper parts, 

 dusky grayish-brown or sooty, broken by transverse 

 mottlings (mostly on edges of feathers) of grayish- 

 white, the uniformly sooty centers of the feathers 

 producing an effect of irregular dusky stripes, most 

 conspicuous on back and shoulders; the front parts 

 with edges of feathers more regularly barred, the 

 mottling more profuse on rump and upper tail-coverts, 

 producing a more grayish appearance; outer webs of 

 wing-coverts variegated by whitish mottlings ; primary 

 coverts with very indistinct bands of paler brown ; 

 secondaries crossed by about nine bands (one terminal, 

 three concealed by greater coverts) of pale grayish- 

 brown, fading into paler (sometimes whitish) on edges 



of outer webs; primaries crossed by nine transverse 

 series of square spots of mottled pale brownish-gray, 

 on outer webs, those nearer the tips indistinct, except 

 the terminal crescentic bar; inner secondaries and 

 middle tail-feathers with coarse mottling or marbling 

 of dusky-brown or sooty and grayish-white, the mark- 

 ings usually with a tendency to form irregular, broken 

 bars ; rest of tail, dusky crossed by about nine paler 

 bands, these merely marked off by a narrow line or 

 edging of whitish or pale brownish-gray inclosing a 

 grayish-brown, sometimes slightly mottled, space, 

 though toward base of the tail-feathers the mottling 

 is more confused and the bands confused or broken 

 up ; ground color of under parts, grayish-white, each 

 feather of neck, chest, breast, and abdomen with a 

 broad, irregularly saw-toothed center stripe of dusky- 

 brown or sooty ; sides, flanks, anal region, and under 

 tail-coverts, narrowly banded or barred with sooty- 



