I04 THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



I have been unable to find more than two records of this Owl 

 having been taken or observed within our limits. Mr. Robert 

 Kennicott includes it in his list* of Cook County birds, with the 

 comment "rare." Mr. E. W. Nelson says : "A very rare winter 

 visitant." 



Its range covers Arctic America, southward in winter to the 

 northern United States. Breeds entirely north of the United 

 States. 



Genus CRYPTOGLAUX|| Richmond, 191. 



Cryptoglaux tengmalmi richardsoni (Bonaparte). Eichardson's Owl. 

 Strix tengmalmi Sw. & Rich., Fauna Bor. Amer., II, 1831, 94, pi. 82 



(nee Gmelin). 

 Nyctale richardsoni Bonapaete, Geog. & Comp. liist, 1838, 7. 

 Nyctale tengmalmi var. richardsoni Ridqway, Amer. Nat., VI, May 



1872, 285. 

 Popular synonym : Spaebow Owi. 



The only records I have of the occurrence of this rare Arctic 

 Owl within our limits are the following notes of Mr. Ruthven 

 Deane, published in the Auk. The first note also includes the 

 first recorded capture of Richardson's Owl in the state of Illinois. 

 Mr. Deane says:f "The only previous capture of this Owl in 

 the State was recorded in the 'Ornithologist and Oologist' (Vol; 

 X, March, 1885), one having been taken October 15, 1884, at 

 Rockford. I am indebted to Mr. Robert H. Van Schaack for 

 the following information : 'The Richardson's Owl was shot by 

 my son, Louis F. Van Schaack, December 26, 1902, in Kenil- 

 worth, Illinois. He found the bird along a small ditch that 

 drains from the Skokie Swamp; he shot the Owl with a toy 

 air gun ! I examined the specimen while in the possession of the 

 taxidermist who mounted it, who informed me that he had 

 mounted another specimen of this species about the same time, 

 which was said to have been shot not far from Chicago, but I 

 have been unable to get any definite locality or date." In Oc- 

 tober of the same year, Mr. Deane published.the following note 4 

 "In recording the second capture of this Owl for the State, I 

 mentioned that another specimen had been reported, but that 

 I was unable to get any definite information as to locality and 

 date. Through the kindness of Mr. Frederick C. Pierce of 

 Chicago I am now enabled to record a third specimen which was 



*Trans. Illinois State Agri. Society, Vol. I, 1853-1854, 581. 

 II Auk, Vol. XVIII, April, 1901, 193, Nyctala Brelim 1828 preoccupied by Nycta- 

 liis Bowdish, 1825, for a genus of Mammals. 

 tAuk, Vol. XX, July 1903, 305. 

 tAuk, Vol. XX, October 1903, 433. 



