108 ' NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



and shallows, such as carp, suckers, pike (Esox), bowfin (Amia), alewives 

 etc., or on fish which are sickly and hence swimming near the surface. It 

 does not, however, to my knowledge feed on dead fish. This latter is the 

 province of the eagle. 



The nest of the Fish hawk is composed of sticks and rubbish, placed 

 in a large tree, or, when in a safe locality, on a boathouse, a cartwheel 

 on a stake, a telegraph pole, or even on the ground. When it has been 

 occupied for many seasons it becomes a huge affair, visible for a long distance. 

 The eggs, 2 to 4 in number, usually 3, laid from April 20 to June 1, are 

 usually of a creamy or buffy white, heavily blotched with chocolate. But 

 they are very variable and are sometimes nearly a uniform reddish brown, 

 sometimes a plain dull white, and average 2.48 by 1.80 inches in size. The 

 breeding range of this species is from the limit of trees to the Gulf of Mexico, 

 and it winters from the Southern States to South America. 



Suborder STRIGES 



Owls 



Bill and claws much as in Falcones, but the cere concealed by thick 

 bristly tufts of feathers, the feet feathered, and the outer toe reversible; eyes 

 looking forward, large, surrounded by disks of radiating feathers ; external 

 ear remarkably large; plumage loose and soft, the outer webs of the feathers 

 recurved ; oil gland not tufted; coeca large ; no crop developed ; basipterygoids 

 present; sternum doubly notched on posterior margin except Aluconidae; 

 clavicles weak, as long as sternum; palate desmognathous ; skull bones, 

 especially the brain case and maxillo-palatines, spongy; a bony canal in 

 the tarso-metatarsus for the extensor tendon of the toes (except in Alu- 

 conidae) ; ambiens, semitendinosus and accessory, accessory femorocaudal, 

 biceps slip, and expansor of secondaries, all absent; femorocaudal present; 

 colors blended; eggs subspherical and immaculate white; nature and regimen 

 as in Accipitres; flight buoyant but wavering. 



Owls are a well-marked order of birds both in external appearance 

 and internal structure. Everyone knows an owl, an assertion which 

 scarcely can be made of any other order of birds. Their large, forward- 

 looking eyes, facial disks, soft blended plumage, noiseless flight, nocturnal 

 habits and stridulous or resonant, dismal voices, have established their 

 individuality firmly in the popular mind. There are about 315 species 



