STBIGID^: OTHER OWLS. 609 



Analysis of Species, 



Under parts streaked on the breast, elsewhere barred. Iris yellow. Six quills sinuate. 



Of immense size ; length 2 feet or more ; toes densely feathered. Northern cinerea 474 



Under parts barred on the breast, elsewhere streaked. Iris black. Five quills sinuate. 

 Of medium size : length about IJ feet. 



Toes fully feathered. Eastern nebulosa 476 



Toes mostly naked. Florida alleni 477 



Under parts barred everywhere. Iris black. Five quills sinuate. 



Of medium size; toes fully feathered. Western .... occidentalis 478 



474. S. cine'rea. (Lat. cinerea, ashy.) Great Gray Owl. Spectral Owl. Feet completely 

 feathered to the claws ; bill and eyes yellow ; 6 primaries cut on inner webs. Entire upper 

 parts dark brown, mottled with grayish-white in confused and intricate pattern, reducible in 

 general to dissipation of bars. Wings and tail similar, broken-barred with grayish-white 

 marbling. Under parts of the same dark brown and pale gray, the pattern in streaks on the 

 breast, in cross-bars on the belly and flanks, in spots on the feet. The great facial disc watered 

 with dark brown and light gray in regular rings concentric with each eye, the outermost ring 

 dark brown, and stronger than the rest, bounded below with a ragged white collar. Length 

 2 feet or more; extent about 5 feet; wing 16.00-18.00 inches; tail 11.00-13.50; culmen 

 1.00 without cere. An immense owl, one of the largest of all, inhabiting Arctic America, 

 straying irregularly south into the U. S. in winter, even to New Jersey, Illinois, and California; 

 said to be common from our northern border northward, and perhaps resident in Northern New 

 England. Nest in trees, of sticks, mosses, and feathers ; eggs usually 3 or 4, not equal-ended 

 and rather small for the bird, 2.25 X 1.80. Like others of the genus it is a wood owl; while 

 its prowess enables it to prey upon creatures up to the size of grouse and hares. 



475. S. c. lappo'nlca. (Lat. l(»pponiea, of Lapland.) Lap Owl. Specimens from Alaska, lighter 

 colored than ordinary, have been referred to the European rather than the American variety. 



476. S. nebulo'sa. (Lat. nebulosa, clouded. Fig. 356.) Barred Owl. Hoot Owl. American 

 Wood i Owl. Toes fully feathered, nearly or quite to the claws, which are blackish ; bill 

 yellow ; iris black. Of medium size in the genus : length 

 18.00-20.00; extent about 4.4.00; wing 12.50-13.50, rounded; 

 tail 9.00-10.00, rounded. Markings of back and breast in 

 cross-bars, of belly in lengthwise stripes. Above, umber- 

 brown or liver -color, everywhere barred with white or tawny, 

 or both ; breast the same ; on the belly the pattern changing 

 abruptly to heavy dusky shaft-stripes on a white or tawny 

 ground ; crissum the same ; feet speckled with dusky ; wings 

 and tail like the back or rather darker, regularly barred with 

 gray, light brown or tawny, some of the bars usually making 

 white spots at their ends, and the marking of the wing-coverts Fig. 356. — Barred Owl, reduced, 

 rather in spots than biirs. Lining of wings tawny, with some dusky spotting. Facial disc 

 set in a frame of black and white specks, with blackened eye-lids, and obscurely watered 

 with lighter and darker colors in rings around the eye as a centre, the bristly feathers about 

 the bill mixed black and, white, or white at base, blackened terminally. A notably large and 

 somewhat impressive owl of Eastern N. Am., common in woodland of the U. S., especially 

 southerly ; not known to range much north of the U. S., though occun-ing in parts of Canada, 

 and not reported from the West, where apparently replaced by S. occidentalis. It is the com- 

 monest ' hooting ' owl, the strange outbursts of midnight discord which one may hear about the 

 farm-house or camp-fire proceeding oftener from this species than from the great homed owl ; 

 and it is strong enough to prey upon poultry, quail, rabbits and squirrels, as well as humbler 

 game. Nest in a hoUow tree, or a deserted hawk's or crow's nest ; eggs laid early in spring, 

 white, subspherical, about 2.00 X 1.75. 



