40 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



B. Nostril prominent, nearly circular, opening anteriorly ; cere somewhat 

 inflated. Tail scarcely more than half the wing. Bill black. 



2. N. acadica. Wing, 5.25 to 5.80; tail, 2.60 to 3.00; culmen, .50 ; 

 tarsus, .80 ; middle toe, .60. Juv. Face dark brown ; foi'ehead and 

 crown brown ; occiput brown ; eyebrows and sides of chin white ; 

 throat and breast umber-brown. (= " albifrons" Shaw = " hirtlandi" ' 

 Hoy.) Hah. Cold temperate portions of Nearctic Realm. 



3. N. harrisi.' Wing, 5.80 ; tail, 3.00 ; culmen, .50 ; tarsus, 1.00 ; middle 

 toe, .80. Juv. (?) Face and forehead and anterior half of crown and 

 whole nape ochraceous ; posterior lialf of crown and occiput black ; 

 eyebrows and sides of chin ochraceous ; throat and breast ochraceous. 

 A narrow belt of black spots in ruff across throat. Hub. South America? 



Nyctale tengmalmi, var. richardsoni, Boxap. 



AMERICAN SPARROW OWL; RICHARDSON'S OWL. 



Nrjdalc richanhoni, Boxap. List. E. & N. A. Birds, p. 7, 1838 ; Consp. Av. p. 54, 1850. — 

 Gray, Gen. B. fol. sp. 2, 1844. — Cass. Birds Cal. & Tex. ]>. 185, 1854 ; Birds N. Am. 

 1858, p. 57. — Kaup, Monog. Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, p. 105 (sub. tengmalmi). — Ib. 

 Tr. Zool. Soc. IV, 1859, 208. — Stiuckl. Orn. Syn. I, 176, 18«5. — Mayfaru, Birds 

 Ea.stern Ma.ss. 1870, 133. — Gray. Hand Li.st, 1, 51, 1869. Strix tengmalmi, KiCH. 

 & Swains. F. B. A. II, 94, pi. xx.Kii, 1831. — Auu. Birds Am. pi. ccclxxx, 1831 ; Orn. 

 Biog. IV, 599, 1831. — Peab. Bu'ds Mass. p. 91, 1841. Nyctale tengmalmi, Dall & 

 Bannister, Tr. Chicago Acad. I, 1869, 273. Nyctale tengmalmi, var. ricliardsoni, 

 Eidgway, Am. Nat. VI, May, 1872, 285.— CoUES, Key, 1872, 206. 



Sp. Char. Adult (9, 3,886, Montreal, Canada, September, 1853; Broome). Upper 

 surface brownish-olive or umber-brown. Forehead and crown with numerous elliptical 

 (longitudinal) marks of white, feathers everywhere with large partly concealed spots of the 

 same ; these spots are largest on the neck and scapulars, on the latter of a I'oundish form, 

 the outer webs of those next the wing being almost wholly white, the edge only brown ; 

 on the nape the spots form Y-shaped mai'ks, the spots themselves being somewhat pointed ; 

 below this is a transverse, less distinct collar, of more concealed spots; wing-coverts toward 

 the edge of the wing with a few large, nearly circular, white spots ; secondaries Avith two 

 transverse series of smaller white spots, these crossing about the middle, remote from the 

 end and base ; outer feathers of the alula with two white spots along the margin ; 

 primary coverts plain ; primaries with four or five transverse series of white spots ; tail 

 with the same number of narrow transverse spots, forming incontinuous bands, the spots 

 not touching the shaft, — the last spot not terminal. Facial circle much darker brown 

 than the crown, and speckled with irregular spots of white, these either medial or upon 

 only one web ; across the throat the circle becomes paler brown, without the white spot- 

 ting. Eyebrows and face grayish-white; lores and eyelids blackish. Lower parts white, 

 becoming pale ochraceous on the legs ; sides of the breast, sides, flanks, and lower tail- 

 coverts with daubs of brown (slightly lighter and more reddish than on the back), those 

 of the breast somewhat transverse, but posteriori)^ they are decidedly longitudinal ; front 

 of tar.sus clouded with brown. Wing-formula, 3,4-2-5-6-7-1. Wing. 7.20; tail, 

 4.50; culmen, .60; tarsus, 1.00; middle toe, .67. 



A female from Alaska (49,802, Nulato, April 28, 1867 ; W. H. Dall) is considerably 

 darker than the specimen described above ; the occiput has numerous circular spots of 



1 Nyctale harrisi, Cassin, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. IV, p. 157, Feb., 1849. — Ib. Tr. A. N. S. 

 II, 2(1 .series, Nov., 1850, ]i]. v. 



