102 SCREECH OWL— MOTTLED OWL— RED OWL. 



to neither age or sex, but was a garb occasionally assumed by 

 adult and young birds of both sexes. The whole question has 

 been discussed at great length, but has finally resulted in the 

 pretty general acceptance of the last — or some closely related — 

 view. This, however — at any rate as regards the bird in Canada 

 — I am not yet by any means disjDosed to accept. Coues observes, 

 " The same rufescent phase occurs in other species of Owls. . . . 

 and is apparently analogous to the melanotic condition of manj^ 

 Hawks." On the other hand Dr. Bachman distinctly states that 

 the young of the Mottled or Screech Owl are red tor two years, 

 when they change to gray ; and Cassins remarks that the young 

 become red when the feathers are fully grown, and afterwards 

 gray again. These last two statements I at once accept, and 

 give here as probably the most correct view, as they are strongly 

 supported by such facts as have come under my own observation 

 in Canada. 



In a very old note-book, which contains some of my ornithol- 

 ogical observations, made long before I was aware that the Screech 

 Owl had furnished such a problem to naturalists, I find the follow- 

 ing note : "In nearly all the young birds which have come under 

 my notice there are traces of the red plumage, and it is probable 

 that at one particular period of their lives these assume the entire 

 red plumage, which they keep even until old enough to raise 

 broods themselves. The union of red and gray birds as parents, 

 sometimes observed, is simply an old or tully adult male choosing 

 a young mate, or vice versa." I have further taken specimens 

 shewing clearly the final stage just previous to the entire gray 

 plumage. In these the rufous portions of the plumage were only 

 descernable upon close inspection, and by the ruftling of the 

 feathers. By far the greater number of specimens taken in 

 Canada up to the present year (1876) are gray, and in my recent 

 enquiries instituted in connection with the present work, I have 

 been surprised to learn how sparingly the " Red Owl " was repre- 

 sented in either our public or private collections. This fact, 

 however, does not in any way support the view I am inclined to 

 take of this most intricate question ; for, as a general rule, in our 



