STRI.X. 255 



neck, and entire lower parts pure wliite, tbo chest sometimes slightly blotthed or 

 spotted with brown, but usually immaculate; sides of head with a dusky stripe 

 from lores across ear-coverts, and top of head usually more or less marked with 

 dusky. Adult female : Similar to the male, but chest much more heavily spotted or 

 blotched with brown (never immaculate). Young: Above blackish brown, each 

 feather distinctly bordered terminally with white or buffj- ; otherwise like adult, 

 the sexes differinjjj in same manner. Downy young : Dull sooty graj-ish or duskv 

 above, more or less mixed or tinged with rusty or fulvous, relieved by a broad 

 whitish stri])e down middle of back and rump; a duskj' stripe on sides of head, and 

 three others on top of head, separated by whitish stripes; hinder portion of wing 

 whitish, anterior portion duskj-; lower parts dull whitish, the chest brownish or 

 dusky. Length 20.75-25.00, extent about 65.00, wing 17.00-21.00, tail 7.00-10.00, 

 culmen 1.20-1.45, tarsus 1.95-2.40. Ivest on trees near water, very bulky, comjjoscd 

 of large sticks, etc. ^'jgs 2-4, 2.44 X 1-81, the ground-color vaiying from buffy 

 white through various shades of buff to pale cinnamon, boldlj- spotted or blotched 

 with rich chestnut or madder-brown and purplish gray. Mab. Temperate and 

 tropical America in general, north to Hudson's Hay and Alaska. 



.304. P. haliaetus carolinensis (G.mel.). American Csprey. 



F.v.MiLY STRIGIDiE.— The Barn Owls. (Page 2 IS.) 



Gene)-a. 

 (Characters same as those given for the Family) Strix. (Page 255.) 



Genus STRIX Linn.^:us. (Page 255, pi. LXXIV., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Ground-eolor of upper parts ochraceous-yellow, this overlaid, more or less con- 

 tinuously, by a grayish superficial tint, finely mottled and speckled with duskj' and 

 white; quills and tail-feathers with more or less distinct, distant, dusky bands, of 

 variable number; lower parts varying from plain snowj^ white to bright tawny, 

 speckled with duskj- ; fiice varj'ing from pure white to tawny; length 14.75-18.00, 

 wing 12.50-14.00, tail 5.50-7.50, c'ulmen .90-1.00, tarsus 2.25-3.00, middle toe 1.25, 

 or more. Nest in hollow trees, in towera, belfries, etc. JSggs 5-11, 1.C7 X 1'27, 

 ovate, plain while. Hab. United States generally (rarer northward) and ^Itxico. 



3G5. S. pratincola Bo.nap. American Bam Owl. 



Family BUBONIDiE. — The Horned Owls, etc. (Page 218.) 



(Eggs invariably plain white, usually oval, or broadly oval, sometimes nearly 

 spherical.) 



Genera. 

 «'. Wing more than 10.00. 



6'. Length of cere along top equal to or exceeding chord of culmen, the upper 

 outline decidedly arched toward base. 



