76 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



of wings and tail white; quills brown, with small spots of white on their outer 

 edges, and large spots of the same on their inner webs ; tail brown, every feather 

 with about three pairs of spots of white ; bill and claws dark ; irides yellow. 



Total length, about seven and a half to eight inches; wing, five and a half 

 inches ; tail, two and three quarters to three inches. Sexes nearly the same size, 

 and alike in colors. 



This species is also quite rare in New England ; but, as 

 it is occasionally found in the summer months, is probably 

 a resident here through -the year. Says Audubon, in his 

 description of this bird, which is very full and perfect : 



" The Little Owl is known in Massachusetts by the name of the 

 ( Saw-whet,' the sound of its love-notes bearing a great resemblance 

 to the noise produced by filing the teeth of a large saw. These 

 notes, when coming, as they frequently do, from the interior of a 

 deep forest, produce a very peculiar effect on the traveller, who, 

 not being aware of their real nature, expects, as he advances on his 

 route, to meet with shelter under a saw-mill at no great distance. 

 Until I shot the bird in the act, I had myself been more than once 

 deceived in this manner. 



" A nest of our Little Owl, which I found near the city of Natchez, 

 was placed in the broken stump of a small decayed tree, not more 

 than four feet from the ground. I was attracted to it by the snor- 

 ing notes of the young, which sounded as if at a considerable 

 elevation; and I was so misled by them, that, had not my dog 

 raised himself to smell at the hole where the brood lay concealed, 

 I might not have discovered them. In this instance, the number 

 was five. It was in the beginning of June ; and the little things, 

 which were almost ready to fly, looked exceedingly neat and beauti- 

 ful. Their parents I never saw, although I frequently visited the 

 nest before they left it. The Little Owl breeds more abundantly 

 near the shores of the Atlantic than in the interior of the country, 

 and is frequent in the swamps of the States of Maryland and New 

 Jersey during the whole year. Wherever I have found the young 

 or the eggs placed in a hollow tree, they were merely deposited on 

 the rotten particles of wood ; and, when in an old crow's nest, the 

 latter did not appear to have undergone any repair. Being quite 

 nocturnal, it shows great uneasiness when disturbed by day, and 

 flies off in a hurried, uncertain manner, throwing itself into the 



