168 TENGMALM'S OWL. 



Its food consists of mice, small birds, moths, beetles, and 

 other insects. It does not swallow its prey whole. 



The note sounds like the syllables 'keu, keu, kook, kook,' 

 varied in the breeding-season into 'kuk, kuk,' repeated for 

 several minutes at a time, at intervals of a minute or two. 

 It is one of the superstitions of the Indians to whistle when 

 they hear it, as sailors do in a calm when wishing for a 

 breeze. The silence of the bird in reply, to use an Iricism, 

 is considered an omen of death. 



These Owls are said to breed in holes of trees, half way up 

 them, and as being deficient in such an 'exhibition of industry,' 

 to make no manner of nest, or only to use a little grass for 

 the purpose. 



The eggs are white, and two in number. 



Male; length, from eight inches and a half to nine and a 

 half; bill, pale greyish yellow or bluish white, darker on the 

 sides, hid at the base by the feathers. Cere, sometimes 

 dashed with black; iris, pale yellow; the eyes are surrounded 

 by a dark ring, forming a band, which is broadest on the 

 inner side. Head, reddish brown, spotted with small yellowish 

 white spots; the ruff yellowish or greyish white, mottled or 

 streaked with black over the eyes; crown, reddish brown; 

 neck, spotted behind as the head. Nape, as the head, the 

 spots larger, forming a sort of band; chin and throat, brown 

 and greyish white. Breast, yellowish or greyish white, 

 indistinctly streaked with lighter brown on the centre of each 

 leather in the upper part, but only the tip on the lower; 

 back, as the head, but the spots larger. 



The wings expand to the width of one foot eleven inches; 

 greater and lesser wing coverts, as the back, partially spotted 

 with white. Primaries, reddish brown, barred on the outer 

 webs with three, or four oval white spots; the third and 

 fourth are the longest in the wing, the latter the longer of the 

 two; Meyer says the former. They reach to within an inch 

 of the end of the tail. Tertiaries, the same, the spots more 

 square; greater and lesser under wing coverts, white, clouded 

 with brown. Tail, reddish brown, slightly rounded, and 

 barred with four or five series of narrow white spots; it 

 extends about an inch beyond the wings: it is greyish white 

 beneath, the bars shewing through; under tail coverts, white. 

 Legs, short, and, as the toes, yellow, feathered with very soft 

 greyish or whitish yellow hairy feathers, slightly spotted with 

 brown. Claws, slender, yellowish brown, and dusky at the tips. 



