GENUS SURNIA. 253 



It probably feeds on insects and occasionally mice, and is 

 strictly a nocturnal species, nesting in trees, selecting the 

 deserted nest of a crow or a squirrel's hole, or that made 

 by the woodpecker. The eggs are four or five, and pure 

 white. We have never seen its nest, but there is a single 

 egg in the Museum of the Cleveland Academy of Natural 

 Science. 



In Macgillivray's edition of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom^ 

 there is a very good plate of this species, under the name 

 of Strix Dalhousii^ or Lady Dalhousie's Owl. Some natur- 

 alists are of the opinion that the N. alhifrons is identical 

 with this species, but Cassin, from a thorough examination 

 of numerous specimens, considers them distinct. Its Euro- 

 pean analogue is the N. passerina^ to which it bears a 

 strong resemblance. 



The color of the upper parts is olive brown, with irreg- 

 ular blotches of white on the wing coverts ; the face ashy 

 white; breast and abdomen white, with oblong brownish 

 red markings; quills of the wings dark olive brown, with 

 four ash white bars ; tail lighter, with two or three narrow 

 bars of white; tarsi light fulvous; bill and claws dark. 

 Many specimens are lighter colored. 



Length from 7^ to 8 inches. 



Specimens of the bird and egg in the Museum of the 

 Cleveland Academy of Natural Science. 



Genus Surnia, Dameril. 



Of small or medium size; head moderate, without ear 

 tufts and the facial disc obsolete ; wings long, with the third 

 quill longest; tail long and broad; bill strongly curved, of 



