206 stkigidtE, owls. — gen. 148. 



Strix tengmalmi Aud., Oru. Biog. iv, 559, pi. 380; B. Am. i, 122, ]A. 32. 

 Nijctale richardsoni Cass, in Bd., 57. According to Mr. Ridgwiiy, the 

 American bird is a distiugiiislialjle variety, lacing darker, tlie darlc areas 

 larger, legs speckled instead of plain, etc. tengmalmii var. eighardsonii. 

 Acadian Owl. Saw-iohet Owl. Small ; wing 5i- ; tail 2§, thus not more 

 than half the wing. Bill black, the cere tumid, the circular nostrils pre- 

 senting anteriorly. United States and somewhat northward ; Mexico. 

 Common. Nyctcde albifrons Cass, in Bd., 57, aud 111. 187; Coop., 435; 

 N. Idrtlandii Hoy, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1852, 210; Cass., 111. 63, pi. 11; 

 Strix frontalis Light.; these are the young. iSlrix passerina Wil,s., iv, 

 66, pi. 34, f. 1 ; Strix aoadica Nutt., i, 137 ; UluJa acadica Aud., i, 123, 

 pi. 33; N. acadica Cass, in Bd., 58; Coop., 436 acadiga. 



,148. Genus GIiAUCIDIUM Wagler. 



'*j^* Very small ; head untufted ; facial disk nearly obsolete ; ear parts moderate ; 

 tarsus fally feathered, toes thickl3' bristled ; wings sliort and mncli rounded, 4th 

 quill longest, tlie 3 outer cues emarginate ; tail rather long, even ; claws strong, 

 sharp, mucli eur^'ed. 



Pygmij Owl. Aljovc, uniform l)r<)wn, everywhere dotted with small 

 round white spots, and with a colhu- (jf mixed white and blackish around the 

 back of the neck ; breast with a mottled brown l)and separating the white 

 tljroat from the rest of the white under parts, which all have lengthwise 

 reddish-brown streaks ; wings and tail dusky browu with round white spots 

 on both webs, largest on the inner; under wing coverts white with black 

 marks disposed in an oblique bar. $ 7, or a little less; extent 14J ; wing 

 3| ; tail 3; 9 larger; 7^, extent 15^, etc. Iris and soles yellow; toes 

 above, bill aud cere, greenish-yellow. The shade of the upper parts ranges 

 from pare deep brovn to pale grayish-brown, sometimes with a slight oliva- 

 ceous shade. Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, U. S., common; a crepus- 

 cular and rather diurnal than strictly nocturnal species. Surnia jpasserinoides 

 Aud., i, 117, pi. 30. G. infuscatum Cass., 111. 189; G. gnoma Cass, in 



Bd., 62; Coop., 444 PASSEiiiNUM var. californicum. 



a 'b U Ferrugineous Owl. With the size, shape, and somewhat the coloi'atiou 

 of the foregoing, but readily distinguished : under parts aud nuchal collar 

 much the same, but the former usually with a rusty tinge; upper parts 

 ranging from the color oi gnoma to a rusty-red (the variation nearly as great 

 as in the two plumages of Scops asio), not continuously speckled, the 

 whitish or ochrcy spots mostly confined to the wing coverts and scapidars, 

 those of the crown lengthened into sharp streaks ; spots on the quills 

 enlarged into bars nearly confluent from one web to the other, rusty or 

 ashy next the shafts, wdiite or tawu}' on the edges of the feathers, especially 

 the inner ; tail in both plumages alike closely and continuously barred with 

 brown and rusty-red (same as the color of the u[)i)er parts in the red 

 Ijlumago, conspicuously different in the gra}' i)lumage), the latter sometimes 

 fading on the inner webs. South and Central America and Mexico to the 



