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Genus NYCTALA. 



Strix apud Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 291 (1788). 

 Athene apud Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 550. 

 Nyctala, C. L. Brehm, Isis, 1828, p. 1271. 

 JEgolius apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 34 (1829). 

 Noctua apud Cuvier, Regne Anim. i. p. 345 (1829). 

 Symium apud Eyton, Hist. Rar. Brit. B. p. 90 (1836). 

 Scotophilus apud Swainson, Classif. of B. ii. p. 217 (1837). 

 Ulula apud Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Striges, p. 8 (1862). 



This genus contains two species, Nyctala tengmalmi, which inhabits the northern portions of 

 the Paltearctic and Nearctic Regions, and Nyctala acadica (Gmel.), which inhabits the Nearctic 

 Region, but ranges also into the northern portion of the Neotropical Region. These birds are 

 nocturnal in their habits, hiding by day and coming out only at the approach of night to hunt 

 after their food. Their flight is soft and noiseless, though tolerably rapid. They feed on small 

 birds, small mammals, and even on insects, obtaining their food only at night. Their cry is a 

 single melancholy note, uttered at night at short intervals. They nest in hollow trees, without 

 making any regular nest, and deposit several pure white roundish eggs. 



Nyctala tengmalmi, the type of the genus, has the beak short, stout, decurved from the 

 base, under mandible notched ; cere rudimentary ; nostrils small, round, concealed by stiff 

 feathers ; ears large, asymmetrical, furnished in front with a well-developed operculum ; facial 

 disk large, nearly complete; head large, the asymmetry of the aural region extending to the 

 skull ; wings long, broad, the first quill shorter than the seventh, the second shorter than the 

 fourth, the third longest ; tail short, nearly even ; legs and toes densely feathered, claws rather 

 slender, curved, acute. 



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