424 BIRDS OF ILLINOIS. 



Surnia ulula caparoch (Miill.) 



AMEHICAN HAWK OWL. 

 Popular synonyma. Hudsonian Hawk Owl, or Day Owl. 



Slrix funerea Linn. S. N. ed. 12.i.l7CG.133 (part, but not of 1758).— Sw. & Rich. F. B.-A. H, 

 1831,92.— NuTT. Man. i. 1832. 115.— AuD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1834, 350, pi. 378. 

 Surnia funerea Bp. 1838.— Aud. Synop. 1839. 21; B. Am. i, 1840.112. pi. 27.— KiDOW.Nom. 

 N. Am. B. 1881. No. 407.-CouEs. 2d Cheek List, 18S3, No. 480. 

 Strix caparoch P. St. Mullek. Suppl. S. N. 1779. 69. 



Surnia ulula caparoch Stejneoer, The Auk, 1884, 363. 

 Slrix hudsonia Gmel. S. N. i.pt. i.l788. 295.— Wu-s. Am. Orn. vl, 1812, 64, pi. BO.flg. 6. 

 Surnia ulula var. hudsonia CouES, Key, 1872, 305; Cheek List, 1874, No.326; B. N. W. 

 1874. 311.— B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. iii. 1874. 75. 

 Sumta uZuIo (LrNN.) Cass in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858, 64.— Baibd, Cat N. Am. B. 1859. 

 No. 62. 



Has. Northern North America, south in winter to northern border of United States 

 (Dakota. Montana, Minnesota, northern Illinois, Massachusetts, etc) . 



Sp. Chae. Adult. Above rich dark vandyke-brown, darker anteriorly, less intense 

 and more grayish on tail. A narrow streak of brownish black originating over the mid- 

 dle of eye. and extending backward above the upper edge of the ear-coverts, where It 

 forms an elbow passing downward in a broad stripe over the ends of the ear-coverts; 

 confluent with this, at about the middle of the vertical stripe, is another of similar tint, 

 which passes more broadly down the side of the nape; between the last stripes (those 

 of opposite sides) is another or median one of less pure black, extending from the occi- 

 put down the nape. Every feather of the forehead, crown, and occiput with a centr.il 

 ovate dot of white ; those anterior more circular, on the occiput less numerous and more 

 linear. Between the lateral and posterior nuchal stripes the white prevails, the brown 

 forming irregular terminal and transverse or median spots; these grow more linear 

 toward the back. Interscapulars plain; posterior scapulars variegated with partially 

 concealed large transverse spots of white, the lower feathers with nearly the whole 

 outer webs white, their confluence causing a conspicuous elongated patch above the 

 wing. Kump with sparse. irregular. but generally transverse. spots of white; upper tail- 

 coverts with broader, more irregular bars of the same, these about equal to the brown In 

 width. Lower feathers of the middle and secondary wing-coverts each with an ovoid 

 spot of white on the outer web; secondaries crossed by about three transverse series of 

 longitudinally ovoid white spots (situated on the edge of the feather), and very narrowly 

 tipped with the same; primary coverts with one or two less continuous transverse 

 series of spots, these found only on the outer feathers; primaries with about seven 

 transverse series of wliite spots, these indistinct except on the five outer feathers, on 

 which those anterior to the em.argination are most conspicuous; all the primaries are 

 very narrowly margined with wliite at the ends. Tail with seven or eight very narrow 

 bands of white, those on the middle feathers purely so.becoming obsolete exteriorly; 

 the last is terminal. Eyebrows, lores,and face grayish white, the grayish appearance 

 caused by the blackish shafts of the feathers; that of the face continues (contracting 

 considerably) across the lower part of the throat, separatingalarge space of dark brown, 

 which covers ne.arly the whole throat, from an indistinct collar of the same extending 

 across the jugulum— this collar uniting the lower ends of the auricular and cervical 

 dusky bands, the space between which is nearly clear white. Ground-color of the lower 

 parts white, but everywhere with numerous very regular transverse bars of deep brown, 

 of a tint more reddish than the back, the brown bars rathermorethan half as wide as the 

 white ones; across the upper part of the breast (beneath the dark gular collar) the white 

 invades very much and reduces the brown, forming a broad lighter belt across the jugu- 

 lum; below this the brown bars increase in width, their aggregation tending somewhat 

 to a suffusion, giving the white jugular belt better deflnition. On the logs and toes the 

 ban are oaiTOwer. more distant, aud less regular. 



