THE YOUNG ORNITHOLOGIST. 



what closer together at the larger 

 end, size .65 to .62 x 50 to .55 of an 

 inch, and usually four in a set. 



The Black and White Creepers are 

 about 4i inches long ; color above, 

 black and white, a yellow stripe on 

 the crown, and over each eye ; throat 

 white, abdomen white, with longitu- 

 dinal black stripes, two white stripes 

 on the wing, and the two outer tail 

 feathers edged with white, lower tail 

 covert feathers white with black 

 centres ; the claws are deeply curved, 

 the hind one is the longest. 



T. B., Dover, Mass. 



THE ACADIAN OWL. 



The Acadian Owl {Noctale acadica) 

 or Saw- whet, as it is sometimes 

 called, from its peculiar rasping note, 

 sounding like the filing of a saw, is 

 not unfrequently found htre ; but is, 

 apparently, not nearly so common as 

 Scops asio. It must breed here, as 

 it is a resident, and I h ive se^ n the 

 young taken in Orleans County. The 

 male of this pigmy of its race aver- 

 ages some 7.29 length by 19.50 in 

 extent. The female is about an inch 

 longer, and every way larger in pro- 

 portion. With, head proportionately 

 large, round, untufted, and facial 

 disks complete, the adult is fine clear 

 brown above, scapulars and wing 

 coverts marked with white, and an 

 luider-surf ace ring of the same around 

 the back of the head ; outside 

 and inside web of primaries, and in- 

 side web of the secondaries, wh'te 

 spotted ; tail tipped with white, and 

 having several cross line of spots of 



the same ; space around the bill gen- 

 erally, and above and below the eye 

 white or yellowish-white ; top of the 

 head, anriculars and sides of neck 

 streaked with white, and clear whi 

 arcs back of the ears ; under-parts 

 white; broadly streaked with reddish- 

 brown. Young, more generally dark 

 brown, unspotted, with clear white fore- 

 head and eyebrows, and clear reddish- 

 brown under-parts. Slyly nesting in 

 the hole of a tree, the nearly round, 

 pure white eggs, .22 x .9G, are laid 

 in April, and the newly hatched \oung 

 are covered with a reddish down. 

 This pigmy must have a good appe- 

 tite, for, not long since, an individ- 

 ual was taken in New Jersey the 

 stomach of which contained a whole 

 Flying Squirrel. Habitat, North Ame- 

 rica, most common, perhaps, in the 

 latitude of New England and Nova 

 Scotia. 



Ffom Rev. J. H. Langille's 



Out Birds in their Haunts. 



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J. A., Needham, Mass., writes: 

 "On the first of January, 1885, I se- 

 cured a fine specimen of Scops asio, 

 but a short distance from my house, 

 in the hollow limb of an apple tree. 

 I kept it some time, feeding it on 

 mice &c., but as I could not procure 

 a sufficient supply, I sold it to a taxi- 

 dermist. 



