N. TENGMALMI RICHARDSONI : RICHARDSON S OWL. 97 



RICHARDSON'S OWL. 



NyCTALA TENGMALMI RICHARDSONI (Bp) Ridg. 



Chars. Above, olivaceous chocolate brown, spotted with white ; 

 beneath white, spotted and streaked with a brown similar to the 

 back, but a little darker ; disc, white ; a white spot between bill 

 and eye ; wings and tail with white spots on both webs, the latter 

 with from 8 to 10 pairs. Bill, light yellow ; iris, yellow ; tarsus 

 feathered ; disc complete. Cere not tumid, the nostrils pre- 

 senting laterally and obliquely oval. Length, 10.00 ; extent, 

 21.00 to 23.00 ; wing, 7.25 ; tail, 4.50. 



Still another of these rare and shadowy night-callers 

 from hyperborean regions — this time a little fellow, much 

 smaller than any of the foregoing excepting Scops, though 

 exceeding the common " Saw-whet " considerably. It is 

 more common in Northern New England, where it is prob- 

 ably resident, like the Snowy and Hawk Owls, and whence 

 it makes its silent and irregular way southward in winter. 

 The Connecticut record is single to date : that of a speci- 

 men captured many years ago in midwinter at East Wind- 

 sor Hill, as recorded by Dr. William Wood in the Hart- 

 ford Times of Aug. 24, 1861 (Allen, Pr. Essex Inst., iv, 

 1864, p. 52; Merriam, B. Conn., 1877, p. 73). The 

 Massachusetts instances are several : see, for instance, 

 Allen, as just quoted, and in Am. Nat., iii, 1870, p. 646; 

 Maynard, Nat. Guide, 1870, p. 133; and Brewer, Pr. 

 Bost. Soc, XX, 1879, p. 271. The last named author 

 says: "Mr. Harry Merrill, writing Feb. 14, 1879, in- 

 formed me that he had recently procured an example 

 of this species in the neighborhood of Bangor. It was 

 kept alive for some time, and Mr. Merrill was interested 

 to learn that Mr. Audubon procured the only living 



