BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



2. Feel short and feathered. 



a. Back with large white spots. 



Saw-whet Owl 36 



b. Back with fine round white dots. 



Pygmy-Owl 41 



THE OWL FAMILY* 



Distinguished from all other birds by having the eyes directed for- 

 ward instead of sidewise, thus giving the characteristic full-face view 

 which we associate with these birds. The ear covering generally con- 

 spicuous. Most species are nocturnal in habits and all feed upon flesh 

 and insects; ejecting the hard indigestible parts of animals, such as bone, 

 fur, and feathers, in the form of pellets. 



31. American Barn-Owl; Sirix praiincola (Bonap.). 



Length, sixteen inches. An unmistakable species on account of the 

 very pronounced disk of feathers about the face. No ear tufts. General 

 color tawny or fawn, darker above, sometimes almost or quite white 

 below. The plumage is curiously dotted with black and white above 

 and below; the yellowish ground color is overlaid with a soft tinge of 

 gray. Note, a squawk, or an iterated clicking, uttered on the wing. 

 Nest in barns or ruins. An abundant resident of the valleys of Cali- 

 fornia. 



32. American Long-eared Owl; Asio wilsonianus (Less.). 

 Length, fifteen inches. Ear tufts long and conspicuous. Above 



mottled brownish, grayish white and tawny; below similar in color but 



with numerous dusky cross-bars. Found in thickets along streams in the 



interior valleys and mountains. Apparently not very common in most 

 parts of the State. 



33. Short-eared Owl; Marsh-Owl; Asio accipitrinus (Pall.). 



Size about as in preceding species. Ear tufts short and inconspicu- 

 ous. General color streaked brown, buff and tawny; lighter below; 

 throat white. Common winter visitant in the swamps of Central 

 California. 



34. Spotted Owl; Western Barred Owl; S^rnium occidentale 

 Xantus. 



Length, nineteen inches. No ear tufts. General color brown, buff 

 and white, barred above and below, but the head and neck brown, 

 spotted with white, and the bars everywhere more or less broken into 



* The barn-owl is classed in a family by itself, with certain technical differences (lom other owls, but 

 (or the take of simplicity 1 have grouped it with the other genera. 



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