BIRDS OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS. I 27 



with dull white and pale tawny; tail-feathers, brown, barred with 

 white, the bars not reaching the shafts; tarsus feathered in front 

 and very long; bill, brown, light at tip; claws, black. 



Length lo, wing 6.50, tail 3, tarsus 1.60, bill .75. 



Mr. L. J. K. Brace procured this species at Nassau, N. P., and 

 it is probably found on some of the other islands. The inhabitants 

 seemed to be acquainted with a small owl, but their statements con- 

 cerning it were very unsatisfactory. Mr. Brace states regarding this 

 species: " For about a month past, I had been watching a small owl 

 that was in the habit of foraging up and down the wharves that line 

 one side of the harbor of Nassau. As dusk approached he would 

 make his appearance, and perch on some elevated place, such as a 

 post or part of a fence. On the approach of any one to his resting- 

 place, he would allow them to come within twenty feet, but if 

 approached nearer, no matter how cautiously, he would fly off, gen- 

 erally uttering a shrill, quickly reiterated chur-chur-chur-chut ! to 

 another spot, scarcely ever returning to the same one. Some even- 

 ings he was more vociferous than on others. I could not determine 

 when he returned during the day ; but he would generally arrive 

 from a southerly inland direction, at other times from either the 

 east or west end of the wharves. When shot, he had only come a 

 short time, and was perched on the cross-trees of a flag-staff, about 

 fifteen feet high. From part of the contents of the gizzard, I con- 

 cluded it was attracted by the ' Crawlers,' a species of Ligia that 

 abounds on the sides of the wharves; it also contained the half- 

 digested remains of a Hyla." 



