THE SAW-WHET OWL. 75 
Contains five species of small and quite peculiar owls, four of which are Ameri- 
can, and one European. 
NYCTALE RICHARDSONII. — Bonaparte. 
The Sparrow Owl. 
Nyctale Richardsonii, Bonaparte. Comp. List, 7 (1838). 
“ Strix Tengmalmi, Gm.” Aud. Orn. Biog., IV. 559, and other American authors. 
DESCRIPTION. 
The largest of this genus; wings long; upper parts pale reddish-brown, tinged 
with olive, and with partially concealed spots of white, most numerous on the head 
and neck behind, scapulars, and rump; head in front with numerous spots of white; 
face white, with a spot of black in front of the eye; throat with brown stripes; 
under parts ashy-white, with longitudinal stripes of pale reddish-brown; legs and 
toes pale-yellowish, nearly white, sometimes barred and spotted with brown; quills 
brown, with small spots of white on their outer edges, and large spots of the same 
on their inner webs; tail brown, every feather with about ten pairs of white spots; 
bill light-yellowish horn-color; irides yellow. 
Total length, about ten and a half inches; wing, seven and a half inches; tail, 
four and a half inches. 
This species is an exceedingly rare winter visitor in New 
England. I have never met with it alive, and can give 
from my own observation no account of its habits. Dr. 
Richardson, in the “ Fauna Boreali-Americana,” says : — 
« When it accidentally 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. Hutchins says that it builds a nest of grass half-way up a 
pine-tree, and lays two white eggs in the month of May.” 
NYCTALE ACADICA. — Bonaparte. 
The Saw-Whet Owl; Acadican Owl. 
Strix Acadica,Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 296 (1788). Bonap. Syn., 38. Nuttall and 
other authors. 
“ Strix passerina, Linneus.”” Wilson, Am. Orn., IV. 66. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Small; wings long; tail short; upper parts reddish-brown, tinged with olive; 
head in front with fine lines of white, and on the neck behind, rump, and scapulars, 
with large, partially concealed spots of white; face ashy-white; throat white; under 
parts ashy-white, with longitudinal stripes of pale reddish-brown; under coverts 
