298 HISTORY OF THE 



others a mere hollow worked out in the earth to fit the body, 

 and but scantily lined. Eggs four to eight; white; in form, 

 roundish oval. 



GENUS SYRNIUM SAVIGNY. 



"Size varying from medium to very large. No ear tufts. Head very large, 

 the eyes comparatively small. Four to six outer primaries with their inner webs 

 siuuated. Tarsi and upper portion, or the whole of the toes, densely clothed 

 with hair-like feathers. Tail considerably more than half as long as the wing, 

 decidedly rounded. Ear orifice very high, but not so high as the skull, and 

 furnished with an anterior operculum, which does not usually extend along the 

 full length; the two ears asymmetrical. Bill yellow." 



Syrnium nebulosum (FORST.). 



BARRED OWL. 

 PLATE XX. 



Resident; common. Begin laying early in March. 



B. 54. R. 397. C. 476. G. 184, 140. U. 368. 



HABITAT. Eastern North America; north to New Brunswick 

 and Manitoba; south to Georgia and northern Texas; western 

 limits not determined. I have never met with them west of 

 Kansas. Dr. Woodhouse speaks of the birds as common in New 

 Mexico, and they may go that far west, but I think the birds 

 there will all prove to be the Spotted Owl, S. occidentale. 



SP. CHAR. "Adult: Head, neck, breast, back, scapulars and rump with broad 

 regular transverse bars of ochraceous white and deep umber brown, the latter color 

 always terminal; on the upper surface the brown somewhat exceeds the whitish 

 in width, but on the neck and breast the white rather predominates. The lower 

 third of the breast is somewhat differently marked from the upper portion, the 

 brown bars being connected along the shaft of the feather, throwing the white 

 into pairs of spots on opposite webs. Each feather of the abdomen, sides, flanks 

 and lower tail coverts has a broad medial-longitudinal stripe of brown, somewhat 

 deeper in tint than the transverse bars on the upper parts; the anal region 

 is plain, more ochraceous white; the legs have numerous but rather faiut trans- 

 verse spots of brown. Ground color of the wings and tail brown, like the bars 

 of the back; middle and secondary wing coverts with roundish transverse spots 

 of nearly pure white on lower webs; lesser coverts plain rich brown; seconda- 

 ries crossed by six bands of pale grayish brown, passing into paler on the 

 edge of each feather; the last is terminal, passing narrowly into whitish; pri- 

 mary coverts with four bands of darker ochraceous brown; primaries with trans- 

 verse series of quadrate pale brown spots on the outer webs (growing deeper in 

 tint on inner quills), the last terminal; on the longest are about eight. Tail (like 

 the wings) crossed with six or seven sharply-defined bands of pale brown, the 

 last terminal. Face grayish white, with concentric semicircular bars of brown; 



