STRIX. 255 



neck, and entire lower parts pure white, the chest sometimes slightly blotched or 

 spotted with brown, but usually immaculate ; sides of head with a dusky stripe 

 from lores across ear-coverts, and top of head usually more or less marked with 

 dusky. Adult female : Similar to the male, but chest much more heavily spotted or 

 blotched with brown (never immaculate). Young : Above blackish brown, each 

 feather distinctly bordered terminally with white or buffy; otherwise like adult, 

 the sexes differing in same manner. Downy young : Dull sooty grayish or dusky 

 above, more or less mixed or tinged with rusty or fulvous, relieved by a broad 

 whitish stripe down middle of back and rump; a dusky stripe on sides of head, and 

 three others on top of head, separated by whitish stripes ; hinder portion of wing 

 whitish, anterior portion dusky; lower parts dull whitish, the chest brownish or 

 dusky. Length 20.75-25.00, extent about 65.00, wing 17.00-21.00, tail 7.00-10.00, 

 culmen 1.20-1.45, tarsus 1.95-2.40. Nest on trees near water, very bulky, composed 

 of large sticks, etc. Eggs 2-4, 2.44 X 1-77, the ground-color varying from buify 

 white through various shades of buff to pale cinnamon, boldly spotted or blotched 

 with rich chestnut or madder-brown and purplish gray. Hob. Temperate and 

 tropical America in general, north to Hudson's Bay and Alaska. 



364. P. haliaetus carolinensis (GMEL.). American Osprey. 



FAMILY STRIGID-3S. THE BARN OWLS. (Page 218.) 



Genera. 

 (Characters same as those given for the Family) Strix. (Page 255.) 



GENUS STRIX LINNAEUS. (Page 255, pi. LXXIY., fig. 1.) 



Species. 



Ground-color of upper parts ochraceous-yellow, this overlaid, more or less con- 

 tinuously, by a grayish superficial tint, finely mottled and speckled with dusky and 

 white ; quills and tail-feathers with more or less distinct, distant, dusky bands, of 

 variable number ; lower parts varying from plain snowy white to bright tawny, 

 speckled with dusky; face varying from pure white to tawny; length 15.00-21.00, 

 wing 12.50-14.00, tail 5.70-7.50, culmen .90-1.00, tarsus 2.25-3.00, middle toe 1.25, 

 or more. Nest in hollow trees, in towers, belfries, etc. Eggs 3-10, 1.65 X 1-31, 

 ovate, plain white. Hob. United States generally (rarer northward) and Mexico. 



365. S. pratincola BONAP. American Barn Owl. 



FAMILY BUBONID^E. THE HORNED OWLS, ETC. (Page 218.) 



(Eggs invariably plain white, usually oval, or broadly oval, sometimes nearly 

 spherical.) 



Genera. 

 a 1 . Wing more than 10.00. 



6 1 . Length of cere along top equal to or exceeding chord of culmen, the upper 

 outline decidedly arched toward base. 



