BRANCH CHORD AT A: CLASS AYES: THE BIRDS 353 



the most familiar. The name "chicken-hawk " is given 

 to two or three different species of large broad-winged 

 hawks of the genus Buteo. -The stout little sparrow-hawk 

 {Falco sparverius], common over the whole country, is 

 familiar and readily recognizable by its pronounced bluish 

 and black wings and black-and-white banded chestnut 

 tail. Altogether fifty species of hawks and eagles are 

 found in this country. Of the owls, the barn-owl (Strix 

 pratincold) with its long triangular face and handsome 

 mottled and spotted tawny coat is more or less familiar, 

 the great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), the snowy owl 

 (Nyctea nycteci), and the great gray owl (Scotiaptex 

 cinerea) are the common large species, while the red 

 screech-o\vl (Megaseops asio) (fig. 138), the most abundant 

 owl in the country, and the strange burrowing owl 

 {Speotyto cnniciilaria], which lives in the holes of prairie- 

 dogs and ground-squirrels in the West, are familiar smaller 

 ones. Thirty-two species of owls are recorded from 

 North America. 



The parrots (Psittaci). The parrots, of which only 

 one species is native in the United States, constitute an 

 interesting order of birds, the Psittaci. They are abun- 

 dant in tropical America. They have a very thick 

 strongly hooked bill, with a thick and fleshy tongue. 

 The feet have two toes pointing forward and two back- 

 ward. The plumage is usually brightly and gaudily 

 colored. The natural voice is harsh and discordant, but 

 many of the species can imitate w r ith surprising cleverness 

 the speech of man. Parrots are long-lived and usually 

 docile, and are much kept as pets. The single native 

 species, the Carolina paroquet (Conurus carolinensis), is 

 about a foot in length, is green, with yellow head and 

 neck and orange-red face. Its range once extended from 

 the Gulf of Mexico north to the Great Lakes, but it has 

 been nearly exterminated in all the States but Florida. 



