LITTLE OWL. 397 



being only 1^ twelfth. The rings are 90, moderately firm, but very 

 thin ; there are 4 half rings beyond the bipartite ring. The bronchi are 

 short, very wide, one of 15 the other of 16 cartilaginous half rings. 

 The lateral muscles are extremely thin, as are the sterno-tracheal ; and 

 there is a single pair of inferior laryngeal muscles, going to the last 

 ring of the trachea. 



The aperture of the ear is of an elliptical form, placed obliquely. 111 

 twelfths long, ^ inch broad, without operculum, having only an elevated 

 margin, fringed with feathers ; the passage to the internal ear 1 inch 

 long and 3 twelfths broad. The nostrils are broadly elliptical, 3 

 twelfths long, 1 twelfth broad. 



LITTLE OWL 



STRIX ACABICA, GmEL. 

 PLATE CXCIX. Vol. II. p. 567- 



My friend Mr T. MacCulloch jvm. has favoured me with the fol- 

 lowing curious notice respecting this bird. " In the beginning of April, 

 when the snow was still lying in large patches in the woods, although it 

 had entirely disappeared from the clear lands, I went out with my gun 

 one afternoon, expecting to obtain some of the small birds which remove 

 to the north on the first approach of spring. Having wandered about 

 four miles from home without meeting with any thing worthy of notice, 

 I had almost determined to return, when my attention was arrested by 

 a sound which at first seemed to me like the faint tones of a distant 

 bell. The resemblance was so exceedingly strong that I believe the 

 mistake would not have been detected, had not a slight variation in it 

 induced me to listen more attentively, and mark the direction in which 

 it seemed to come. With the view of ascertaining its origin if possi- 

 ble, I crossed an intervening farm, and striking into a dense spruce 

 wood directed my course towards the point from which it seemed to 

 proceed. While listening to the singular note, the accounts which I 

 had seen of the Tardus tinniens or Bell Bird of the southern portion of 



