258 
NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
varied with dusky and ochraceous, the quills with large (often partially 
confluent) spots of the latter; tail ochraceous or buffy, paler on outer 
feathers, and crossed with about five dusky bands; face blackish around 
eyes, the eyebrows whitish. Young: Above dark sepia-brown, the 
feathers broadly tipped with ochraceous-buff; face uniform brownish 
black; lower parts wholly plain pale dull buffy, tinged with smoky 
grayish anteriorly. Length 13.80-16.75, wing 11.80-13.00, tail 5.80- 
6.10, culmen .60-.65, tarsus about 1.75. Nest on ground, in open situa- 
tions, usually among bushes or tall grasses. Eggs 3-7, 1.53 X 1.22. Hab. 
Entire western hemisphere, except Galapagos and part of West Indies; 
also, nearly throughout eastern hemisphere, excepting Australia, ete. 
367. A. accipitrinus (Pau.). Short-eared Owl. 
Genus SYRNIUM Savieny. (Page 256, pl. LXXVILI,, fig. 2.) 
Species. 
Common Cuaracters.—Above deep umber- or sepia-brown, barred or spotted 
with buffy or whitish ; face dull grayish or dingy grayish white, usually with nar- 
row darker concentric rings; quills spotted with pale brown and whitish, and tail 
crossed by about six to eight narrow bands of the same; lower parts whitish (buffy 
or ochraceous beneath surface), barred and striped, or spotted, with brown; iris 
brownish black; bill yellowish. 
a, Head, neck, and breast broadly barred with deep brown and whitish, or buffy ; 
sides, flanks, and other posterior lower parts striped with deep brown. 
b. Top of toes feathered, exeept on terminal portion. 
c. Face without darker concentric rings; colors deep sepia-brown and 
grayish white, the latter with little or none of ochraceous on lower 
parts, where the stripes are very dark, almost blackish, brown; 
wing 14.80, tail 9.00, culmen .95. Hab. Hastern Mexico (Mirador, 
etc.). 
S. nebulosum sartorii Ripaw. Mirador Barred Owl. 
ce, Face with more or less distinct darker concentric rings; colors deep 
umber-brown and buffy whitish (deeper buff, or ochraceous, beneath 
surface). Young: Head, neck, and entire lower parts broadly 
barred with rather light umber-brown and pale buffy and whitish, 
the brown and lighter bars about equal in width; back, scapulars, 
and wing-coverts similarly marked, but the bars broader, the brown 
ones of a deeper tint, and the terminal portion of each feather 
broadly white, producing a spotted appearance; quills, secondaries, 
and tail-feathers (when grown out) as in adult. Length 19.75-24.00, 
wing about 13.00-14.00, tail about 9.00. Nest in trees (usually in 
hollows). Eggs 2-3, 1.94 1.67. Hab. Eastern North America, 
1 Syrnium nebulosum, var. sartorit, Ripew., in Hist. N. Am. B. iii. 1874, 29. (This is possibly a distinct 
species from S, nebulosum.) 
