STENIUM.— NTCTALA. 11 



dinally streaked, and by the head and neck being marked with roundish spots and not 

 with transverse bars. 



The original specimen described by Xantus in 1859 was obtained near Fort Tejon, 

 California ^, but only recently has its range been traced over the adjoining States 

 forming the southern portion of the Middle Province of North America to Arizona and 

 Lower California, States joining our northern border. The evidence of its occurrence 

 in Mexico is not very complete. The British Museum contains an example said to 

 be from that country, but it was acquired from a dealer in 1866. Captain Bendire, 

 however, states precisely ^, without giving his authorities, that it occurs over the higher 

 tablelands of Mexico to Guanajuato in lat. 21° N. In his work also will be found the 

 fullest account of the habits of this Owl, so far as then known. Dr. Fisher also gives 

 a summary of the published notes concerning it ®. These all refer to birds found beyond 

 our border. 



NYCTALA. 

 Nyctala, Brehnij Isisj 1828, p. 1271 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 284. 



Nyctala is a northern genus containing two species, one of which, N. tengmalmi, is 

 found in the northern parts of the Old World and in similar regions in the New ; the 

 other, N. acadica, is strictly a bird of North America, extending its range through 

 Mexico to Guatemala. Both are small Owls with peculiarly silky plumage, without 

 feathered ear-tufts, but with the osseous portion of the skull about the ears curiously 

 asymmetrical, one side being much more swollen than the other. The toes are densely 

 feathered to the base of the claws. 



1. Nyctala acadica. 



Acadian Owl, Lath. Gen. Syn. i. p. 149, t. 5. £. 2 '. 



Strix acadica, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 296 ". 



Nyctala acadica, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 295 '; Ridgw. in Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. Birds^ 



iii. p. 43 ' ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 287 ' ; Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, i. 



p. 350, t. 12. f. 7 ' ; Fisher, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. no. 9, p. 160 '. 



Supra brunnea, capite summo albo striato ; scapularibus extrorsum albo maculatis, tectricibus alarum mediis et 

 primariis extus albo maculatis, facie alba : subtus alba rufo maculata, tibiis rufescenti-albis ; cauda fusca 

 fasciis indistinctis albis notata. Long, tota circa 7"5, alae 5-6, caudse 2*65, tarsi 1"0. (Descr. exempl. ex 

 Chimalpa, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Juv. Supra brunnea unicolor ; subtus usque ad imum pectus quoque brunnea, abdomine toto pallidiore ; 

 tectricibus auricularibus nigricanti-brunneis; fronts, superciliis et macula utrinque rictali albis; scapularibus 

 cervino maculatis ; alls albo maculatis ; cauda nigricante, albo bifasciata. 



Hob. North Ameeica, Canada and Northern States, Mountains of "Western and South- 

 western States^. — Mexico, Chimalpa in the Valley of Mexico {Ferrari-Perez), 

 Cinco Senores {Soucard^) ; Guatemala, Quezaltenango {0. S.). 



Though a common and weU-known bird in North America and fully described by 

 American authors, but little is known of this Owl in Mexico or Central America. 



9* 



