334 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
a few feet of it, as it sat upon the bushes. Dr. Ricuarpson 
gives the following notice respecting it in the Fauna Boreali- 
Americana :—‘ When it actually wanders abroad in the day, it 
is so much dazzled by the light of the sun as to become stupid, 
and it may then be easily caught by the hand. Its ery in the 
night is a single melancholy note, repeated at intervals of a 
minute or two. Mr. Hurcurns informs us that it builds a nest 
of grass half way up a pine tree, and lays two white eggs in 
the month of May. It feeds on mice and beetles. I cannot 
state the extent of its range, but believe that it inhabits all the 
woody country from Great Slave Lake to the United States. 
On the banks of the Saskatchewan it is so common that its 
voice is heard almost every night by the traveller, wherever he 
selects his bivouac.’ ” 
(B) acapica. Acadian Owl. Saw-whet Owl. 
(In Massachusetts, not common, unless in autumn.) 
(a). When erect, about six inches high. Above, chocolate- 
brown; head streaked, back spotted, and tail barred, with 
white. Beneath, white, streaked (in blotches) with reddish 
chocolate. (Tarsal feathers, tawny.) Eyes encircled by black. 
Bill black. (In A, ‘bill yellow.”) 
(b). ‘The eggs are generally laid in the hole of a tree, and 
are four to six in number.” An egg, which was found in a 
pine-wood near Boston, about the first of May, evidently be- 
longed to this bird. It was lying on the ground (not far from 
a tree, in which an Acadian Owl had previously been seen), 
and to it was attached two feathers, which correspond exactly 
to those of a stuffed ‘*Saw-whet.” The egg was cold, and 
slightly cracked. It has a remarkably smooth, white shell, 
and measures about 1:00 & -90 of an inch. 
(c). The little Acadian Owls are residents throughout New 
England, but near Boston, so far-as I have observed, they are 
very rare in summer, being most numerous in autumn. They 
are apparently more social than other species, as ‘* they have 
been known to occur in small parties.” I hawe, however, al- 
ways met them singly. During the day, they remain in woods 
