ACCIPITRES — STRIGIDjE — BUBO. - 25 



THE LITTLE SCREECH OWL. 

 Bubo asio. 



PLATE XII. FIG. 25 (Adult) ; FIG. 26 (Youko). 



(STATE COLLECTION.) 



Strix noma, Mottled Owl. Wils. Am. Ornith. Vol. 3, p. 17, pi. 19, fig. 1 (adult). 



S. asio, Red Owl. Id. lb. Vol. 5, p. 83, pi. 42, fig. 1 (young). 



S. ( Syrnia) asio. BoNiP. Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 36. 



Mottled and Red Owl. Nutt. Man. Ornith. Vol. 1, p. 121. Aud. folio, pi. 97; Om. Biog. Vol. 1, p. 486; B. of 



A. Vol. 1, p. 147, pi. 40 (adult and young). 

 Scops asio. Bonap. Geographical and Comparative List, p. 6. 

 Bubo asio, Mottled Horned Owl. GlRAUD, Birds of Long Island, p. 28. 



Characteristics. Small. Dark brown, mottled, black, brown and grey. Tail even, not 

 longer than the wings. Feet covered with short feathers. Young, 

 tawny red. Length 10 inches. 



Description. Bill curved from the base. Conch of the ear oval. Feathers on the feet 

 resembling hairy down. Facial circle complete. Tufts erect, and of ten graduated feathers. 

 Tail even. 



Color. Dark brown, with paler shades, and thickly studded with dark points. Wings 

 spotted with white, and barred with brownish black on a darker ground. Disk bluish. Tail 

 obscurely barred. Iris yellow. Bill and claws bluish horn. Young : Bright tawny red ; 

 beneath white, with reddish dilated longitudinal streaks on the belly ; similar dark brown 

 streaks on the breast ; disk or facial circle tawny. 



Length, 8-0-12-0. 



This little owl is not only inoffensive, but useful to the farmer, in clearing his neighbor- 

 hood of mice and other noxious vermin. It is, I believe, a species exclusively belonging to 

 the Union, and not found beyond its limits. The adult and young of this species have, from 

 the time of Pennant, been considered as distinct, until they were separated by the Prince of 

 Canino in the Transactions of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and afterwards in the 

 Annals of the Lyceum of New-York. A similar error for a long time prevailed in Europe in 

 relation to the Syrnium aluco. A writer in the Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of 

 Philadelphia, Vol 8, p. 53, asserts, however, that the color of both young and old is variable 

 and uncertain, or else that they are specifically distinct. He arrives at this conclusion, from 

 having observed the old and young of the Mottled Grey Owl, neither of which had the 

 slightest shade of red about them. 



The Little Screech Owl, or Red Owl, selects the hollow trunk of a tree for its nest, near 

 outhouses : it lays 3-4 white rounded eggs. The nestlings are yellowish white. It feeds 

 on mice and insects, and is gentle and inoffensive. 



[Fauna — Part 2.] 4 



