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LITTLE SCREECH OWL. 

 Strix Asio, Linn. 



PLATE XCVII. Vol.. I. p. 486. 



Although this species inhabits the Oregon Territory and the Co- 

 lumbia River district, where it was found by Dr Townsend, it is not 

 mentioned by Dr Richardson as being observed in the Fur Countries. 

 It is, however, met with abundantly in the British provinces of New 

 Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and Labrador, where I pro- 

 cured it. My friend Dr Bachman says, " there is no doubt about the 

 correctness of the changes of plumage of this species, for I have seen 

 it in its various stages from red to gi'ey. I kept it more than a year 

 in domestication, when it underwent all its changes. I have taken the 

 young red birds from the nest, and the old in the same hole, very grep. 

 The bird breeds in the red state the following spring, and does not be- 

 come grey until two years old. Specimens have been procured partially 

 red and grey in the intermediate state." The eggs are one inch two- 

 eighths long, eleven and a quarter twelfths in breadth. 



An adult female preserved in spirits measures to end of tail 10 

 inches, to end of wings 10, to end of claws 1\\ ; extent of wings 23 ; 

 bill along the ridge ^|, along the edge of lower mandible ^"i ; wing 

 from flexure 6i ; tail 3i ; tarsus 1^^ ; hind toe {\, its claw || ; second 

 toe T%, its claw l\ ; third toe \% its claw ~\ ; outer toe {■^, its claw /j. 



The palate is concave, with two longitudinal ridges, its sides con- 

 vex ; the posterior apertm^e of the nares oblong, 2 twelfths in length, 

 with an anterior slit 4 twelfths long. The palate and margins of the 

 nasal aperture are covered with papillae. The aperture of the ear is 

 large, elliptical, 5^ twelfths long, 4^ twelfths 

 broad. The width of the mouth is 11 twelfths. 

 The oesophagus is 34 inches long, of the nearly 

 uniform width of ^ inch ; it passes, together with 

 the trachea, along the right side of the neck, until, 

 on entering the thorax, it crosses to the left, as in all other Owls. The 

 liver is large, its left lobe 1 inch 5 twelfths in length, the other 1| inch. 

 The stomach is excessively large, round, a little compressed, 1^ inch 



