THE SAW-WHET OWL. 75 



Contains five species of small and quite peculiar owls, four of which are Ameri- 

 can, and one European. 



NYCTALE RICHARDSONII. Bonaparte. 

 The Sparrow Owl. 



Nyctale fiichardsonii, Bonaparte. Comp. List, 7 (1838). 



" Strix Tengmalmi, Gm." Aud. Orn. Biog., IV. 559, and other American authors. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The largest of this genus; wings long; upper parts pale reddish-brown, tinged 

 with olive, and with partially concealed spots of white, most numerous on the head 

 and neck behind, scapulars, and rump ; head in front with numerous spots of white ; 

 face white, with a spot of black in front of the eye ; throat with brown stripes ; 

 under parts ashy-white, with longitudinal stripes of pale reddish-brown; legs and 

 toes pale-yellowish, nearly white, sometimes barred and spotted with brown ; quills 

 brown, with small spots of white on their outer edges, and large spots of the same 

 on their inner webs ; tail brown, every feather with about ten pairs of white spots ; 

 bill light-yellowish horn-color; irides yellow. 



Total length, about ten and a half inches ; wing, seven and a half inches ; tail, 

 four and a half inches. 



. This species is an exceedingly rare winter visitor in New 

 England. I have never met with it alive, and can give 

 from my own observation no account of its habits. Dr. 

 Richardson, in the " Fauna Boreali- Americana," says : 



" When it accidentally wanders abroad in the day, it is so much 

 dazzled by the light of the sun as to become stupid ; and it may 

 then be easily caught by the hand. Its cry in the night is a 

 single melancholy note, repeated at intervals of a minute or two. 

 Mr. Hutchins says that it builds a nest of grass half-way up a 

 pine-tree, and lays two white eggs in the month of May." 



NYCTALE ACADICA, Bonaparte. 

 The Saw-Whet Owl; Acadican Owl. 



Strix Acadica, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 296 (1788). Bonap. Syn., 38. .Nuttall and 

 other authors. 



" Strix passerina, Linnaeus." Wilson, Am. Orn., IV. 66. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Small; wings long; tail short; upper parts reddish-brown, tinged with olive; 

 head in front with fine lines of white, and on the neck behind, rump,, and scapulars, 

 with large, partially concealed spots of white ; face ashy-white ; throat white ; under 

 parts ashy-white, with longitudinal stripes of pale reddish-brown ; under coverts 



