170 



MOTTLED OWL. 



AMERICAN MOTTLED OWL. RED OWL, (YOUNG.) 

 LITTLE COMMON SCREECH OWL. 



Stria: Asia, LINNAEUS. 



StrixAn. Owl. 



THIS Owl is a native of North America, and is met with 

 in Oregon and Columbia, as well as, abundantly, in New 

 Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador. 



A single specimen has occurred in this country. It was 

 shot in Hawksworth Wood, the property of Lord Cardigan, 

 on the banks of the Biver Aire, near Kirkstall, Yorkshire, 

 in the spring of the year 1852. There was another with it at 

 the time, and no doubt, from the season of the year, they 

 had been building, or would have built; but every rare bird 

 is so hunted, as the saying is, 'from pillar to post,' that there 

 is small chance of any increase of family. 



Richard Hobson, Esq., M.D., of Leeds, an excellent and 

 most acute naturalist, recorded the fact, with full particulars, 

 in my magazine, 'The Naturalist,' August, 1855. 



These Owls rest or spend the day either in the hole of 

 some decayed tree, or in the thickest parts of evergreens. 

 They are generally found perched on the roofs of houses, on 

 fences, or garden gates. 



They have been kept without difficulty in confinement, and 

 seem comfortable and happy uttering their notes with as 

 much apparent satisfaction as if at liberty. 



Audubon writes as follows of the bird: 'The flight of the 

 Mottled Owl is smooth, rapid, protracted, and noiseless. On 

 alighting, which it does plumply, it immediately bends its 

 body, turns its head to look behind it, performs a curious 



