THE SAW-WHET OWL. 75 



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

 can, and one European. 



NYCTALE EICHARDSONII. — Bonaparte. 

 The Sparrow Owl. 



Nijctah Richardsonii, Bonaparte. Comp. List, 7 (1838). 



'• Strix TaKjmaliiiL Gm." Aud. Orn. Biog., IV. 559, and other AmeriLau authors. 



Desckiption. 



The largest of this gemis; wings long; upper parts pale reddish-brown, tniged 

 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 blaclc in front of the eye; throat with brown stripes; 

 under parts ashy-*hite, 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 wliite on their outer edges, and large spots of tlie same 

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

 bill light-yellowish horn-color; irides j'ellow. 



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 w^inter visitor in New 

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

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

 Kichardson, 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, rej^eated 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 kCkmCk. — Bonaparte. 



The Saw-Whet Owl; Acadican Owl. 



Strix Acadica, Gm. Syst. Nat., L 296 (1788). Bonap. S\-n., 38. Nuttall and 

 other authors. 



" Strix passerina, Linnjeus." Wilson, Am. Orn., FV. 66. 



Description. 



Small; wings long; tail short; upper parts reddish-bro^vn, tinged with olive; 

 head in front with tine lines of white, and on the neck beliind, rump, and scapulais, 

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

 pnrts ashy-white, witli longitudinal stripes of pale reddish-brown; under ccYerts 



