256 SYRNIUM CINEREUM — CINEREOUS OWL. 



chickens. No owl glides on more silent pinions than this. 

 Its soft, downy plumage produces no sound in the night 

 air. 



The upper parts of this owl are light brown, with bars 

 and blotches of white ; face ashy, with several obscure 

 rings of brown on the facial disc, around each eye ; breast 

 ashy white, with brown bars ; abdomen and tarsi ashy white 

 and fulvous, with oblong stripes of dark brown ; quills of 

 the wings brown, with six or seven roundish spots of white 

 on the outer webs, arranged in the form of bars, the mark- 

 ings on the inner webs being ashy ; tail brown with narrow 

 bars of white; bill light yellow; claws dark. 



Different specimens exhibit great variation in color and 

 markings, but all may be easily distinguished by the pecu- 

 liar barred appearance on the back and wing coverts, and 

 the large size of the head. 



The length of the female is from 19 to 20 inches ; the male 

 smaller. 



Specimens in the Museum of the Cleveland Academy of 

 Natural Science. 



Syrnittm Cinereum, Gmelin. — The Cinereous Owl. 



Audubon's Birds of America, Octavo edition, I., plate 35. 



This largest of North American Owls has been added to 

 our fauna, in consequence of an owl answering the descrip- 

 tion of this species having been shot some years ago at 

 Huntsburgh, Geauga county. We did not see the speci- 

 men, but as no other species could be readily confounded 

 with this, there is little doubt concerning it- This owl is, 

 or was quite plentiful at the opposite side of Lake Erie, in 



