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^'Dear Sir — 

 "In looking over Mr. Nuttall's late edition of the Land Birds, I 

 notice that he has, on the authority of Dr. Michener, repeated, in 

 my opinion, the error committed by Wilson, by describing the Red 

 Owl, Strix naevia of Wilson, as a distinct species, which I consider 

 as the young of Strix asio. This opinion I have not hastily arrived 

 at — it is the result of several years' close observation. I have taken 

 the young birds from the nest soon after they w^ere hatched, and 

 found them covered with grayish down. As soon as the feathers 

 begin to form, they assume a reddish appearance, the color becoming 

 deeper as the bird advances in age. How long they remain in this 

 plumage I cannot say, but am inclined to the opinion that in some 

 instances they do not appear in full plumage until the second or third 

 year — as I have taken the female from the nest, she being in mature 

 gray plumage, and at the same time I have shot the male, he being 

 perched a few feet above her on the same tree, and in the red livery. 

 On the first occurrence of this, I supposed ^e plumage of the fe- 

 male to be gray, and that of the male red. Subsequently, hoAvever, 

 I was obliged to abandon this position, for directly the opposite oc- 

 curred ; and I have shot both male and female in either dress, and 

 am well persuaded that they mate before arriving at maturity. 



" Yours truly, J. G. Bell." 



