Syrnium Nebulosum (Forstcr.) Boie. 



BARBED OWL; COMMON GRAY OWL. 

 PLATE XXV. 



The two birds so beautifully and accurately figured on this 

 Plate by Notman will at once be recognized by all our Canadian 

 sportsmen and collectors as old camp-fire acquaintances. They 

 are male and female, and were taken on the Nuns' Island, in the 

 St. Lawrence, near the city of Montreal. As this Plate is not my 

 own handiwork, it will not be considered egotistical in me when I 

 state that a more natural, accurate and beautiful portrait of the 

 Barred Owl does not exist in any ornithological work jet pub- 

 lished in this country. The birds from which it was taken 

 were in prime condition, or in other words, in perfectly mature 

 plumage, and natural mates. They were preserved and mounted 

 by Mr. Wm. Hunter, late taxidermist to the Montreal Natural 

 History Society, whose skill as a bird-mounter is well known 

 to the citizens of Montreal and Hamilton, in both of which cities 

 he for a number of years resided and collected. The figure of 

 this Owl as given by Audubon in his " Birds of America," is not 

 recognizable — at least as our bird — and must have been taken 

 from a form or stage not known in Canada ; this any one may see 

 by comparing the Plates. I believe, however, that the Southern 

 individuals of this species {e.g. Florida specimens) are both darker 

 and a shade smaller than Northern New England or Canadian 

 ones. 



The Barred Owl, or, as it is more generally known in Canada, 

 the common Gray Owl, has, besides being wretchedly figured, been 

 most incorrectly described by many writers, and I here gladly 

 seize the opportunity of correcting some mis-statements made 

 respecting it. In the comparatively recent work of Dr. Coues, on 

 the " Birds of the North-West," he mentions this Owl as "spar- 

 ingly represented in British America," and states that " the sexes 

 of this bird are not appreciably different in size, nor otherwise 



