ony emaoanens es 
THE HAWK OWL. 79 
nest, which they do upon every occasion that presents itself. The 
Snowy Owl will occasionally make its nest on the large turf-hillocks 
in some of the mosses. 
SURNIA, DumeErRiL 
Surnia, DuMERIL, Zoologie Analytique, 34 (1806). 
General form rather long, but robust; size medium; head moderate, without ear- 
tufts; facial dise obsolete; bill moderate, curved from the base, covered with pro- 
jecting plumes; wings long; tail long, wide, graduated; legs rather short, and with 
the toes densely feathered; contains one species only, which inhabits the arctic 
regions of both continents. 
SURNIA ULULA. — Bonaparte. 
The Hawk Owl; Day Owl. 
Strix ulula, Linneus. Syst. Nat., I. 133 (1766). 
“ Stria funerea,’ Gm. Bonap. Syn. 25. Nutt., I. 115. Aud. Orn. Biog., 
IV. 550. 
“ Stria Hudsonica.”” Wilson, VI. 64. 
DESCRIPTION. 
Wings rather long; first three quills incised on their inner webs; tail long, with 
its central feathers about two inches longer than the outer; tarsi and toes densely 
feathered; upper parts fuliginous-brown, with numerous partially concealed circular 
spots of white on the neck behind, scapulars and wing coverts; face grayish-white ; 
throat white, with longitudinal stripes of dark-brown; a large brown spot on each 
side of the breast; other under parts with transverse lines or stripes of pale ashy- 
brown; quills and tail brown, with transverse bands of white; bill pale-yellowish ; 
irides yellow; color of upper parts darker on the head, and the white markings 
more or less numerous in different specimens. 
Total length, female, sixteen to seventeen inches; wing, nine; tail, seven inches. 
Male rather smaller. 
This bird is occasionally met with in different localities in 
New England; rarely in the summer, most often in the 
winter. As its name implies, it is diurnal in its habits, 
and hunts its prey in the hours when most of the other 
owls are hidden in their retreats. Its food consists of small 
birds and mice, which it seizes in the manner of the hawks. 
A specimen was obtained in Vermont on a wood-pile in a 
door-yard, where it was eating a woodpecker that it had 
just captured. Dr. Richardson, in his “ Fauna Boreali- 
Americana,” says that, “when the hunters are shooting 
erouse, this bird is occasionally attracted by the report of 
