20 



NORTH AMERICAIT BIRDS. 



the uniformity that it does in the Americcan bird ; in the European bird, each 

 feather above has a conspicuous medial longitudinal stripe of dark brown- 

 ish : these markings are found everywhere except on the rump and upper 

 tail-coverts, where the ochraceous is deepest, and transversely clouded with 

 dusky mottling ; in the American bird, no longitudinal stripes are visible on 

 the upper surface. The ochraceous of the lower surface is, in the mdyaris, 

 varied only (to any considerable degree) by the sliarply defined medial 

 longitudinal stripes to the feathers, the transverse bars being few and in- 

 conspicuous ; in wilsonianus, white overlies the ochraceous below, and the 

 longitudinal are less conspicuous than the transverse markings ; the former 

 on the breast are broader than in vulgaris, in which, also, the ochraceous 

 at the bases of the primaries occupies a greater extent. Comparing these 

 very appreciable differences with the close resemblance of other representa- 

 tive styles of the two continents (dif- 

 ferences founded on shade or depth 

 of tints alone), we were almost inclined 

 to recognize in 'the American Long- 

 eared Owl a specific value to these 

 discrepancies. 



The Otus stijiiiiis, Wagl., of South 

 America and Mexico, is entirely dis- 

 tinct, as will be seen from the foregoing 

 synoptical table. 



Habits. This species appears to be 

 one of the most numerous of the Owls 

 of North America, and to be pretty 

 generally distributed. Its strictly 

 nocturnal habits have caused it to be 

 temporarily overlooked in localities 

 wdiere it is now known to be pres- 

 ent and not rare. Dr. William Gambel 

 and Dr. Heermann both omit it from 

 their lists of the birds of California, though Dr. J. G. Cooper has since found 

 it quite common. It was once supposed not to breed farther south than 

 New Jersey, but it is now known to be resident in South Carolina and in 

 Arizona, and is probably distributed through all the intervening countr}-. 

 Donald Gunn writes that to his knowledge this solitary bird hunts in the 

 night, both summer and winter, in the Eed Eiver region. It there takes 

 possession of the deserted nests of crows, and lays four wdiite eggs. He 

 found it as far as the shores of Hudson's Bay. Eicliardson states it to be 

 plentiful in the woods skirting the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequenting 

 the coast of the bay in the summer, and retiring into the interior in the 

 winter. He met with it as high as the 16th parallel of latitude, and believed 

 it to occur as far as the forests extend. 



Otus vulgar in. 



