34 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Syrnium nebulosum, Gray. 



BARRED OWL ; " HOOT OWL." 



Strix nehulosa, Forst. Phil. Trans. XXII, 386 & 424, 1772. —Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 291, 

 1789. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 58, 1790; Syn. I, 133; Gen. Hist. I, 338. — Daud. Tr. 

 Orn. II, 191, 1800. — Shaw, Zobl. VII, 245, 1839; Nat. Misc. pi. xxv. — Vieill. 

 Ois. Am. Sept. pi. xvii, 1807 ; Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat. VII, 32 ; Enc. Meth. Ill, 1292. 

 — AUD. Birds Am. pi. xlvi, 1831 ; Orn. Biog. I, 242. — Temm. Man. Orn. pt. i, p. 88 ; 

 pt. iii, p. 47. — Wern. Atl. Ois. Eur. — Meyer, Taschenb. Deutsch Vogelk. Ill, 21 ; 

 Zusatze, p. 21.— Wils. Am. Orn. pi. xxxiii, f. 2, 1808. —Rich. & Swains. F. B. A. 

 II, 81.— Bonap. Ann. Lye. N. Y. II, 38 ; Isis, 1832, p. 1140. — Jard. (Wils.) Am. 

 Orn. II, 57, 1832. Ulula ncbulosa, Steph. Zool. XIII, pi. ii, p. 60, 1815. — Cuv. 

 Reg. An. (ed. 2), I, 342, 1829. — James. (Wils.) Am. Orn. I, 107, 1831 ; IV, 280.— 

 Bonaparte, List, page 7, 1838; Conspectus Avium, p. 53. — Goulu, Birds Eur.pl. 

 xlvi. —Less. Man. Orn. I, 113, 1828 ; Tr. Orn. p. 108. — Gray, Gen. B. fol. (ed. 2), 

 p. 8, 1844. -De Kay, Zool. N. Y. II, 29, pi. x, f. 21, 1844. Syrnium nchulosum. 

 Gray, Gen. B. fol. sp. 9, 1844 ; Li.st Birds Brit. Mus. p. 104. —Cass. Birds Gal. k 

 Tex. p. 184, 1854; Birds N. Am. 1858, 56. — Giraud, Birds Long Island, p. 24, 

 1844. — WooDH. inSitgr. Rept. Expl. Zuni & Colorad. p. 63, 1853. — Brew. (Wils.) 

 Am. Orn. p. 687, 1852. — Kaup, Monog. Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, p. 121.— Ib. Tr. 

 Zool. Soc. IV, 256. — Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 189, 1855. — Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 

 28. —Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 330 (Texas, resident). — Coues, Key, 1872, 204. —Gray, 

 Hand List, I, 48, 1869. 



Sp. Char. Adult. Head, neck, breast, back, scapulars, and rump with broad regular 

 transverse bars of ochraceous-white and deep umber-brown, the latter color always ter- 

 minal ; on the upper surface the brown somewhat exceeds the whitish in width, but on 

 the neck and breast the white rather predominates. The lower third of the breast is 

 somewhat differently marked from the upper portion, the brown bars being connected 

 along the shaft of the feather, throwing the white into pairs of spots on opposite webs. 

 Each feather of the abdomen, sides, flanks, and lower tail-coverts has a broad medial 

 longitudinal stripe of brown somewhat deeper in tint than the transverse bars on the 

 upper parts ; the anal region is plain, more ochraceous. white ; the legs have numerous, 

 but rather faint, transverse spots of brown. Gi-ound-color of the wings and tail brown, 

 like the bars of the back ; middle and secondary wing-coverts with roundish transverse 

 spots of nearly pure white on lower webs ; lesser coverts plain rich brown ; seconda- 

 ries crossed by six bands of pale grayish-brown, passing into paler on the edge of each 

 feather, — the last is terminal, passing narrowly into whitish ; primary covert's with four 

 bands of darker ochraceous-brown ; primaries with transverse series of quadrate pale- 

 brown spots on the outer webs (growing deeper in tint on inner quills), the last terminal ; 

 on the longest are about eight. Tail like the wings, crossed with six or seven sharply 

 defined bands of pale brown, the last terminal. 



Face grayish-white, with concentric semicircular bars of brown ; eyebrows and lores 

 with black shafts ; a narrow crescent of black against anterior angle of the eye. Facial 

 circle of blackish-brown and creamy-white l^ars, the former prevailing along the anterior 

 edge, the latter more distinct posteriorly, and prevailing across the neck in front, where 

 the brown forms disconnected transverse spots. 



9 (752, Carlisle, Penn.). Wing-formula, 4-.3, 5-2, 6; 1=9. Wing, 13.00; tail, 

 9.00; culmen, 1.05; tarsus, 1.90; middle toe, 1.50. 



^. A little smaller. (No specimen marked $ in the collection.) 



Hab. Eastern North America, west to the Missouri ; Rio Grande region. 



