112 Birds of Pennsylvania. 



Genus NYCTAL^P Breiim. 

 372. Nyctala acadica (Gmel.). 



Acadian Owl; Saw-whet Owl. 



Description. 



Small; wings long; tail sliort ; upper parts reddisli-l)ro\vn, tinged with olive; head 

 in front with lino lines of white, and on the nock behind, rump, and scapulars, with 

 hirge, partially concealed spots of white; face ashy-white; throat white ; under parts- 

 ashy-wliite, with longitudinal stripes of pale reddish-brown ; under coverts of wings 

 and tail white ; quills brown, with small spots of wliite on their outer edges, and 

 large spots of the same on their inner webs ; tail brown, every feather with about 

 three pairs of spots of white ; bill and claws dark ; iridos j^ellow. 



Total length about 7^ to 8 inches ; extent about 18; wing 5g ; tail 2J to n inches. 

 Sexes nearly the same size and alike in colors. 



Hab. — North America at large ; breeding from Middle States northward. 



The Acadian is the smallest Owl found in the United States east of 

 the Mississippi river. Although apparently larger, it is in reality 

 smaller, than our common Robin. This pigmy mass of owl-life is, I 

 suppose, the species which was regarded as not destructive to poultry 

 and game, by the author of the " Scalp Act," when he introduced 

 therein a clause exempting "The Arcadian Screech or Barn Owl." 

 From the fact, howiever, that the decapitated heads of Pheasants,* 

 Night Hawks, and doubtless other birds, were cremated and paid for 

 as the heads of destructive, rapacious " Hawks," it is but reasonable 

 to suppose that our little Acadian Owl, when found by the eager 

 scalp hunter, was generally slain, and the bounty of fifty cents given 

 '■' for the benefit of agriculture and for the protection of game." 



The name of Saw-whet is applied to this bird because, at times, its 

 squeaky voice resembles the whetting or filing of a saw. Owing to 

 the small size of this Owl, together with the fact that during the day- 

 time it remains secreted in hollow trees, thick foliage or in dark and 

 secluded rocky retreats, it is seldom met with, hence is regarded as 

 one of our rarest residents. The young of this bird, taken in the 

 vicinity of Philadelphia, have been seen by Prof. Gentry, and in E. A. 

 Samuel's work, " Our Northern and Eastern Birds," the following in- 

 teresting account is given, by Mr. Richard Christ, of a nest that he 

 found April 25, 1867, at Nazareth, Pennsylvania : 



" This, the smallest of all our Owls, is also the most rare, but a sin- 

 gle specimen being seen in a period of several years. It is very tame 

 when found, permitting one to approach very close to it before flying 



*In December, 188C, Prof. S. F. Baird informed me that lie had received for identification, 

 from one or more counties in Pennsylvania, the heads of Pheasants (Donana umhellus). Those 

 beads were called by the parties sending them to Prof. Baird " Hawk heads," and as such they 

 had been presented for the fifty-cent bounty, which had been paid. Prof. Baird also examined 

 tiorae Pennsylvania " wolf scalps," on which premiums had been jfiven, and ascertained that the 

 so-cailed " wolf scalps " had been fashioned from pelts of the common Red Fox ( Vulpen fidviis). 



