323 



possesses in his rich collection the eggs, and the young birds in various stages of plumage. 

 According to Seidensacher this Owl is found in Styria, but is rare, though it breeds there. He 

 writes as follows: — "On the 4th of May, 1863, two young birds, fully feathered, were brought 

 to me from Prekorje, about four miles from Cilli. They were dark brown, the facial disk 

 narrowly bordered with white, the wings spotted with greyish white ; the bill was bluish ; iris 

 light yellow. In order to see what they were, I reared them ; and in October they had doffed 

 the brown plumage and moulted into the ordinary plumage of Tengmalm's Owl. On the 1st of 

 June, 1864, I found at Runtule, near Prekorje, two young birds, about eight or ten days old, in 

 a hole in an old oak. A little below, in the same tree, a Roller had deposited her eggs." 



We have no record of its having occurred in Southern Russia, or Asia Minor ; but Professor 

 Schlegel refers to it as having been met with in Egypt, where, according to Captain Shelley, it 

 is of very rare occurrence. There is a specimen in the British Museum from Mr. Turnbull's 

 collection. 



Eastern Siberia is also given by Professor Schlegel as a locality where it has been obtained ; 

 but none of the Russian travellers who explored Siberia included it. Pallas certainly speaks of 

 it as "rare in Siberia," but gives no instance of its having occurred there. Dr. Jerdon, however, 

 writes that it has been found in the cachar of Nepal, i. e. the inner Himalayas. 



In America, as in Europe, it is chiefly found in the northern portion of the continent. 

 Professor Baird states that it is entirely a northern species, common at Hudson's Bay, but of rare 

 occurrence within the limits of the United States. Mr. Boardman writes that it is found, though 

 rare, in Maine. The only notice of it as a western species is by Dr. Townsend, who gives it as a 

 bird of Oregon. Dr. Richardson writes that he believes " it inhabits all the wooded country 

 from the Great Slave Lake to the United States. On the banks of the Saskatchewan it is 

 so common that its voice is heard almost every night by the traveller wherever he selects his 

 bivouac." According to Captain Blackiston it has been found breeding on the Mackenzie by 

 Mr. Ross. Mr. Elliot has pointed out (Ibis, 1872, p. 50) that Nyctale albifrons, Shaw, is this 

 species in immature plumage ; and in this we fully agree with him. Under the name of Strix 

 frontalis, Professor Lichtenstein cites it as a bird of California; and Dr. Hoy procured it in 

 Wisconsin. We have carefully compared specimens from North America with typical European 

 examples, and have fully convinced ourselves that there is no difference whatever between the 

 birds from the two continents. 



This Owl is strictly nocturnal, appearing but rarely in the day time ; and when it does, it is 

 so dazed by the light as to seem perfectly stupid. It remains in the dark recesses of the forest 

 until dusk, when it leaves its hiding-place and commences to hunt after food. It preys on small 

 birds and mammals, and, according to some authors, beetles. Its note is a single melancholy 

 call, repeated at intervals of a minute or two, and is heard only during the night. 



It breeds early in the season, depositing its eggs, which range from four to six in number, in 

 a hollow tree, selecting any suitable hole for the purpose of nidification, the eggs being placed on 

 the bottom of the hole without any regular nest being made. The eggs, of which we have several 

 before us out of Dresser's collection, obtained in Styria and Lapland, are pure white, in shape 

 very round, and measure from 1-J^ by 1-^ inch to 1-j-J by l^g- inch. The grain of the shell is, 

 compared with eggs of Athene noctua, rather finer than that of those of this latter bird. 



