412 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



is conspecific with the single Paloearctic species, N. tengmalmi. A 

 third species, the N. harrisi Cassin, belongs to northern South 

 America (Colombia). 



Com. Chae. Adults. Above brown, moro or less spotted with whito: beneath white, 

 broadly striped with reddish brown. Young. Above uniform brown, the wings and tail, 

 however, marked with white, as in the adult Face uniform dusky surmounted by con- 

 spicuous white "eyebrows." Lower parts uniform brown anteriorly, and uniform bright 

 oehraeeous posteriorly. 



1. N. tengmalmi richardsoni. Wing, 7.20 inches or more; tail about 4.50; culmen, .00; 

 tarsus. 1.00; middle toe, .67. Bill yellow. 



2. N. aoadioa. Wing, 5.25-5.50; tail, 2.60-3.00; culmen, .45.00; tarsus, , SO; middle toe, 

 .CU-.C5. Bill black. 



Nyctala tengmalmi richardsoni (Bp.) 



KICHABDSON'S OWL, 



Popular synonym. Sparrow OwU 



Strix tengmalmi Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. ii. 1831,94, pi. 82. (nee Gmel.),—Nutt. Man. 1, 1832, 

 5C2.— AUD. Orn. Biog. iv, 559, pi. 380. 

 XJlula tengmalmi AUD. Synop. 1829, 24; B.Am, i, 1840, 122, pi. 32. 

 iV^/ciaie rioAa?-dsoni BoNAP. Comp. List, 1838, 7.— Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 57.— 

 Baied, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No, 55. 

 Xyctale tengmalmi var. richardsoni RiDOW.— CouES, Key, 1872, 205; Check List, 1874, 



No. 327; B. N. W. 1874, 313.— B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. iii, 1.H74, 40, 

 Xyctale tengmalmi ric/iarrfso7!iRiDaw. Nom. N.Am. B. 1881,No. 400.— ConE8,2d Check 

 List, 1882, No. 482. 



Hab. Northern North America; south, in winter, to New England (New Hampshire, 

 Massachusetts, and Rhode Island), Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and Oregon. 



Sp. Char. Adult. Upper surface brownish olive or umber-brown. Forehead and 

 crown with numerous elliptical (longitudinal) marks of white, feathers everywhere with 

 large psirtly concealed .spots of the same; these spots largest on the neck and scapulars 

 —on the latter of a roundish form, the outer webs of those next the wing being almost 

 wholly white, the edge only brown; on the nape the spots form V-shaped marks, the spots 

 themselves being somewhat pointed; below this is a transverse, less distinct collar, of 

 more concealed spots; wing-coverts, toward the edge of the wing, with a few large, 

 nearly circular, white spots; secondaries with two transverse series of smaller white 

 spots, these crossing .about the middle, remote from the end and base; outer feathers of 

 the alula with two white spots along the margin; primary coverts plain; primaries with 

 four or five transverse series of white spots; tail with the same number of narrow trans- 

 verse spots, forming interrupted bands, the spots not touching the shaftr— the last spot not 

 terminal. Facial circle much darker brown than the crown, and speckled with irregular 

 spots of white, these either median or upon only one web; across the throat the circle 

 becomes paler brown, without the white spotting. Eyebrows and face grayish white; 

 lores and eyelids blackish. Lower parts white, becoming pale oehraeeous on the legs; 

 sides of the breast, sides, flanks, and lower tall-coverts with daubs of brown (sUghtly 

 lighter and more reddish th,an on the back), those of the bre.ast somewhat transverse, but 

 the posterior ones decidedly longitudinal: front of tarsus clouded with brown. Wing, 

 about 7.20; tail, 4.50; culmen, .60; tarsus. 1.00; middle toe, .97, 



