THE BARRED OWL. 73 



with in broad daylight as the Hawk Owl, but hunts principally when 

 the sun is low : indeed, it is only at such times, when the recesses 

 of the woods are deeply shadowed, that the American Hare, and the 

 murine animals on which the Cinereous Owl chiefly preys, come 

 forth to feed.' " 



Audubon speaks of a gentleman in Salem, Mass., who 

 kept one of these birds alive for several months : it was fed 

 on fish and small birds, of which it was very fond. It uttered 

 at times a tremulous cry, not unlike that of the little Screech- 

 owl (Scops asio'), and showed a great antipathy to cats and 

 dogs. 



SYENIUM NEBULOSUM. Gray. 

 The Barred Owl. 



Strix nebuksa, Forster. Trans. Philosoph. Soc., London, LXII. 386, 424 (1772). 



Strix nebulosa, Linnaeus. Wilson, 304. Bonap. Syn., 38. Nutt., I. 133. Aud., 

 I. 242. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Head large, without ear-tufts; tail rather long; upper parts light ashy-brown, 

 frequently tinged with dull-yellow, with transverse narrow bands of white, most 

 numerous on the head and neck behind, broader on the back ; breast with transverse 

 bands of brown and white ; abdomen ashy-white, with longitudinal stripes of brown ; 

 tarsi and toes ashy-white, tinged with fulvous, generally without spots, but frequently 

 mottled and banded with dark-brown; quills brown, with six or seven transverse 

 bars, nearly pure-white on the outer webs, and ashy-fulvous on the inner webs ; tail 

 light-brown, with about five bands of white, generally tinged with reddish-yellow ; 

 discal feathers tipped with white; face ashy-white, with lines of brown, and a spot 

 of black in front of the eye; throat dark-brown; claws horn-color; bill pale-yellow; 

 irides bluish-black. Sexes alike. 



Total length, about twenty inches; wing, thirteen to fourteen; tail, nine inches. 

 Sexes nearly of the same size. , 



This Owl is rather common in most sections of New Eng- 

 land ; is more often seen in the more southern localities, 

 and less frequently met with in sections where the Great 

 Horned Owl is most abundant, and vice versd. Its flight is 

 soft and rapid, the great breadth of the wings and compara- 

 tive lightness of the body giving it remarkable speed. Its 

 vision is almost as good in the daylight as in the night, and 

 surpasses that of most of our other owls. A specimen that 

 I kept alive for a few weeks, often, in the daytime, flew about 

 the room in which his cage was placed : he alighted with 



