380 THE SAW-WHET OWL. 
Recognition Marks.—Size largest,—Brant size; gray face; absence of ear- 
tufts will immediately distinguish it from the great Horned Owl. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Ohio. Nest, of sticks and moss, lined sparingly 
with down, placed high in trees, usually coniferous. Eggs, 2-4, white. Av. size, 
Pris) 3 ligt (GAG) 38 AB.) 
General Range.—Arctic America, straggling southward in winter to southern 
New England, New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Llinois, Idaho, and northern Mon- 
tana. 
Range in Ohio.—Very rare; two or three records believed to be authentic, 
but no specimens. 
ONE, autumn day some thirty years ago Charles Dury, of Cincinnati, 
was out quail-hunting with some farmers’ boys in Clark County, near South 
Charleston. While in pursuit of a scattered covey in a dense thicket, he came 
suddenly upon a monster Owl, the like of which he had never seen alive. A 
quick shot fired full in the bird’s face, blinded it, but did not inflict a mortal 
wound. Spreading its ample wings it fluttered away, regardless of a second 
shot fired after it, the gun being only a light muzzle-loader charged with fine 
shot. Realizing that he had lost a prize, the young collector scoured the 
neighboring woods in search of it, but without avail. 
This very rare northern visitor has not since been seen within the state, 
and it will hardly pass again the broadening belt of civilization which sepa- 
rates us from the Laurentian wilds, in which it makes its home. ‘The bird 
is not really so large as it appears, but has long fluffy feathers within which 
the “meat” bird is almost lost. Its eggs are not larger than some laid by the 
Barred Owl. 
No. 167. 
SAW-WHET OWL. 
A. O. U. No. 372. Nyctala acadica (Gmel.). 
Description.—Aduli: Without ear-tufts ; upper parts dull reddish brown, the 
crown and lateral edges of disk narrowly streaked, and the remaining upper parts 
more or less broadly but sparingly spotted with white; below white, broadly and 
heavily streaked with cinnamon-rufous; legs, feet, and crissum tawny white or 
ochraceous, unmarked ; facial disk white above, fulvous and brown below, the eyes 
black-margined, and the disk brown-edged below, contrasting with narrow pectoral 
white; iris yellow; bill black. Immature: Like adult, but without white spotting 
above; breast, like back and belly, ochraceous. Length 7.25-8.50 (184.2-215.9) ; 
wing 5.00-5.90 (127.-149.9); tail 2.80-3.25 (71.1-82.6); bill including cere 
.66 (16.8). 
