174 



OWLS. 



h. Arctic Owls. Nyctea. 



Large owls with long wings and tails, compact plumage, 

 Fig. 215. feet covered with long, hair-like feathers, and 

 diurnal habits. 



1. SNOWY OWL, N. NYCTEA. 22.00; 

 white, more or less spotted, mottled and bar- 

 red, especially above, with dark-brown, fig. 

 216; females and young being more heavily 

 marked. Northern portions of northern hemi- 

 sphere, in N. A. breeding north of the U. S. 

 migrating south in winter to t h e Middle 

 States. Nov. to April. Note, a whistling cry. 

 C. GROUND OWLS. Athenidae. 



Rather small owls with long wings and 

 U, .B, g, 1. 1-10. legs, short tails, and small eyes ; facial 



Fig. 216. 



disk very imperfect. 

 a. Burrowing Owls. Speotyto. 



Characters as above ; nests, placed in 

 holes in the ground. 



1. BURROWING OWL, S. HYPO- 

 OAEA. 10.00 : yellowish-white barred 

 .and spotted with reddish or yellowish 

 brown, the dark color predominating 

 above. Western U. S. from the Great 

 Plains to the Pacific ; accidental in N. Y. 

 and Mass. 



V. CTJCKOOS. 



Slender birds of varying size but never very small, with 

 long tails, compact plumage, and two toes in ''front and two 

 behind. 



A. ANIS. Crotophagidae. 



Slender cuckoos black in color, with long tails of eight 

 feathers, long wings and bill compressed, and with the cul- 

 men of upper mandible elevated and ridge-like, plate 14. 



1-15. 



