HAWK OWL. 119 



This species is very rare in Pennsylvania, and the more 

 southern parts of the United States. Its favourite range seems 

 to be along the borders of the arctic regions, making occasional 

 excursions southwardly, when compelled by severity of wea- 

 ther, and consequent scarcity of food. I sometime ago received 

 a drawing of this bird from the District of Maine, where it was 

 considered rare; that, and the specimen from which the draw- 

 ing in the plate was taken, which was shot in the neighbour- 

 hood of Philadelphia, are the only two that have come under 

 my notice. These having luckily happened to be male and 

 female, have enabled me to give a description of both. Of their 

 nest, or manner of breeding, we have no account. 



The male of this species is fifteen inches long; the bill orange 

 yellow, and almost hid among the feathers; plumage of the chin 

 curving up over the under mandible; eyes bright orange; head 

 small; face narrow, and with very little concavity; cheeks white; 

 crown and hind-head dusky black, thickly marked with round 

 spots of white; sides of the neck marked with a large curving 

 streak of brown black, with another a little behind it of a tri- 

 angular form; back, scapulars, rump and tail-coverts, brown 

 olive, thickly speckled with broad spots of white; the tail ex- 

 tends three inches beyond the tips of the wings, is of a brown 

 olive colour, and crossed with six or seven narrow bars of white, 

 rounded at the end, and also tipt with white; the breast and 

 chin are marked with a large spot of brown olive; upper part 

 of the breast light, lower, and all the parts below, elegantly 

 barred with dark brown and white; legs and feet covered to, 

 and beyond the claws, with long whitish plumage, slightly yel- 

 low, and barred with fine lines of olive; claws horn colour. The 

 weight of this bird was twelve ounces. 



The female is much darker above; the quills are nearly black, 

 and the upper part of the breast is blotched with deep blackish 

 brown. 



It is worthy of remark, that in all Owls that fly by night, 

 the exterior edges and sides of the wing quills are slightly re- 

 curved, and end in fine hairs or points; by which means the bird 



