STRIGID^E — THE OWLS. 75 



Species and Races. 



S. ulula. Above dark vamlyke-brown, the head above dotted with 

 white, and tlie scapulars spotted with the same. Beneath transversely 

 barred with vandyke-brown and white, the bars regular, continuous, and 

 sharply defined. Head and neck with two lateral, and one posterior 

 medial, stripes of brownish-black, the space between them with white pre- 

 vailing. Bill and iris yellow. Wing, about 9.00; tail, G.SO- 7.00. 



White spotting prevailing. Hah. Patearctic Realm . . \&y. ulula} 

 Brown spotting prevaiHng. Hab. Nearctic Realm . . var. htodsonia. 



Surnia ulula, var. hudsonia (Gmelin). 



AMERICAN HAWK OWL. 



Sirix freti Imdsonis, Briss. Oni. I, 520, 1760. Strix hudsonia, Gmel. Syst. Nat. p. 295, 

 1789. _WiLS. Am. Oni. pi. 1, f. 6, 180S. — Shaw, Zool. VII, 274, 1809. — Vieill. 

 Ois. Am. Sept. I, 50. Surnia hudsonia, James. (Wils.) Am. Oni. I, 90, 1831. Sur- 

 nia uhda, var. hudsonica, (RiDGWAv) CoUES, Key, 1872, 205. Strix canadensis, Briss. 

 Orn. I, 518, pi. xxxvii, f. 2, 1789. — Shaw, Zool. VII, 273, 1809. Strix funerea 

 (not of LINX.EUS !), Rich. & Swains. F. B. A. II, 92, 1831.— Aud. Birds Am. pi. 

 ccclxxviii, 1831 ; Orn. Biog. IV. 550. — Bonap. Ann. Lye. N. York, II, 35. — Brewer 

 (Wils.), Am. Orn. p. 686. — Thomps. Hist. Vermont, p. 64. — Peab. Birds Mass. Ill, 

 83. Surnia uhihi (not ulula of Linn.!), Cass. Birds Calif. & Tex. p. 191, 1854. — 

 Birds N. Am. 1858, 64. — Gray, Hand List, I, 39, 1869. — Blackist. Ibis, III, 320. 

 — Lord, Pr. R. A. I. IV, iii (Brit. Columb.). — Kaup, Tr. Zool. Soc. IV, 1859, 214. 

 ^ Dall & Bannister, Tr. Chicago Acad. I, ii, 274. — Maynard, Birds Eastern 

 Mass., 1870, 133. 



Sp. Char. Adult. Above rich dark vandyke-brown, darker anteriorly, less intense and 

 more grayish on tail. A narrow streak of brownish-black originating over the middle of 

 eye, and extending backward above the upper edge of the ear-coverts, where it forms 

 an elbow passing downward in a broad stripe over the ends of the ear-coverts ; confluent 

 with this, at about the middle of the vertical stripe, is another of similar tint, which 

 passes more broadly down the side of the nape ; between the last stripes (those of 

 opposite sides) is another or medial one of less pure black, extending from the occiput 

 down the nape. Every feather of the forehead, crown, and occiput with a central ovate 

 dot of white; those anterior more circular, on the occiput less numerous and more linear. 

 Between the lateral and posterior nuchal stripes the white prevails, the brown forming 

 irregular terminal and transverse or medial spots ; these grow more linear toward the 

 back. Interscapulars plain ; posterior scapulars variegated with partially concealed large 

 transverse spots of white, the lower feathers with nearly the whole outer webs white, 

 their confluence causing a conspicuous elongated patch above the wing. Rump with 

 sparse, irregular, but generally transverse, spots of white ; upper tail-coverts with broader, 

 more regular bars of the same, these about equal to the brown in width. Lower feathers 

 of the middle and secondary wing-coverts each with an ovoid spot of white on the outer 

 web ; secondaries crossed by about three transverse series of longitudinally ovoid white 

 spots (situated on the edge of the feather), and very narrowly tipped with the same; 

 primary coverts MMth one or two less continuous transverse series of spots, these found 



1 Surnia ulula, var. ulula. Strix ulula, Linn. S. N. 1, 1766, 133. Surnia ulula, Bonap. 

 Cat. 1838, 22. 



