GLEANINGS. 607 



and tail, purplish. The female is green above, and yellow- 

 ish beneath. This brilliant anomaly among Sparrows is very 

 shy, and is a sweet singer. 



The Carolina Parroquet (Conurus carolinensis), 13 inches 

 long, with green body, yellow head and red face, once abund- 

 ant in the Southern States, is now becoming local and rare. 



The Barn Owl (Strix flammea var. americana), recently 

 taken on Navy Island, in Niagara River, is about 17 inches 

 long, the face particularly round and expressive; the legs 

 long, slender and hairy ; general color, tawny, mottled or 

 marbled with dark brown, ash and white. It is a southerly 

 species. 



That elegant little Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula var. hud- 

 sonia), 16 inches long, brown above, specked with white, 

 finely cross-barred with brown and whitish below, and 

 wings and tail with numerous white bars is a northern 

 species, occasionally found in Western New York in winter. 

 With small head and rather diurnal in its habits, it bears 

 quite a relation to the Hawks. (See portrait on frontispiece.) 



The Everglade Kite (Rosthramus sociabilis], of Florida, 

 bears quite a resemblance to the Marsh Hawk. Its gen- 

 eral color, however, is much darker the male blackish 

 and a little smaller; its long, hooked bill is " extremely slen- 

 der /' the tail is emarginate; and the bare part of the tarsus 

 is shorter than the middle toe. By these points it may be 

 readily differentiated. The nest, of sticks, weeds, etc., and 

 lined with grasses, is placed in bushes, and contains 2 eggs, 

 1.50 X 1.65, bluish-white, heavily marked with varying shades 

 of brown. 



The Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis), found in the 

 South Atlantic and Gulf States, is some 13.70 long and 

 35.00 in extent; color, dark bluish-ash, lighter on the head, 

 neck and under parts, and becoming greenish-black on the 



