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uttering its melancholy cry, he whistles towards the spot 
from whence the sound proceeds, and if the bird does not 
answer him he looks for a speedy death. The occurrence of 
this bird in England is very rare. In Yorkshire one was 
killed at Thurmanby, in the East Riding; in 1836 a 
Specimen was purchased at a poulterer’s shop in London; 
another was killed the same year in Kent; one on the sea-coast 
at Manden, in Durham, in October, 1848; and one at Morpeth 
in 1812. The colour of this bird is more rich and rather more 
defined than that of the Little Owl. The whole of the upper 
parts of the body are of a rich chocolate-brown, dotted and 
splashed with many white markings, which are very minute upon 
the top of the head, and large upon the back and wings, some 
being arranged on the lower portions of the wings, so as to form 
_ irregular stripes. In length, from the top of the crown to the 
extremity ot the tail, itis from eight and a half to nine inches. 
It frequents wooded districts, the thick and extensive forests of the 
north, orchards and other lesser plantations. These birds breed in 
holes of trees. The eggs are white, and two in number. Its ery, 
in the night, is a single melancholy note, repeated at intervals of a 
minute or two. 
The Hawk, or Canada Owl, is one of the most interesting birds 
in this family ; as it forms a distinct connecting link through the 
hen Harrier with the Falcons. In the hen Harrier we find the 
commencement of the peculiar facial disc and in the Hawk Owl 
this disc is not nearly so well defined as in the other members of 
the same group. The eyes are differently formed, as the bird is 
able to follow its prey by day as well as in the dark, and 
therefore requires a character of eye which will not be injured or 
half-blinded by ordinary daylight. This bird possesses many 
points to show that it is a connecting link; the long tail and 
small head of the Hawk, as well as the habit of flying by day; 
and resembling the Owl in the ruff and feet; one might almost 
think it a hybrid between the two. 
