TENGMALM'S OWL 



1909 



tube of the ear is quite unsymmetrical on the two sides of the skull. The toes are 

 thickly feathered, the head is relatively large, the under mandible notched, the 

 wings long and rounded, and the tail short. This owl measures only from eight 

 and one-half to ten inches in length, and may be easily recognized by its thick 

 and fluffy plumage, which stands out widely on each side of the head, and by 

 its prettily mottled coloration. The general color of the upper parts is pale brown, 

 mottled with white bars, and the forehead spotted with white. The tail feathers 

 are marked with five interrupted whitish bars, and the under parts are grayish 

 white, mottled with clove-brown. This species, which is rarely met with as a 



TENGMAIvM'S OWI, AND PYGMY OWI,. 



(One-third natural size.) 



straggler in the British Isles, is an inhabitant of the forest regions of Northern 

 Europe and Siberia, ranging in Russia as far north as the Urals; and also occurring 

 ns a straggler in Nipal, Southern Europe, and North Africa. Across the Atlantic 

 it reappears in Eastern North America. In habits it is strictly nocturnal, rarely be- 

 ing seen abroad in the daytime; and always dazed and stupid in a strong light. It 

 frequents the densest recesses of the forests, and nests early in hollow trees, laying 

 its eggs, from four to six in number, on the bare wood at the bottom of the hole. 



The Acadian owl, in addition to its smaller size, differs by the nearly uniform 

 color of its upper surface, by the replacement of the spots on the forehead by stripes, 



