OWLS. 357 



VIII. SURNIA. 



A. ULULA CAPAEOCH. American Hawk Owl. Day 

 Owl. A winter visitant to Massachusetts of rare occur- 

 rence.* 



a. About sixteen inches long. General colors, dark brown 

 and white, the former predominating above. Wings, tail, and 

 under parts barred, but throat streaked. Face, partly bordered 

 by black, and narrow, approaching the Hawk type. 



6. " The nest is built in trees. The eggs, six in number, 

 are white, and average about 1.50 X 1-25 of an inch." 



c. No other families of birds present such difficulties to the 

 naturalist and biographer as the Hawks and Owls. Their gen- 

 eral scarcity and shyness, their life of solitude and retirement, 

 their frequent residence in inaccessible or little frequented 

 places, and their silence during the greater part of the year, 

 render it difficult to become intimate with their habits or, in 

 some cases, with their notes. Such is eminently the case with 

 the Hawk Owl, of whom apparently no adequate biography 

 has yet been written. I have seen it but once, and can add 

 little or nothing to former accounts. These birds, like several 

 other species, inhabit the arctic regions, not only of America 

 but also of the Old World. They very rarely visit Massachu- 

 setts, though " not uncommon in northern New England in 

 autumn or winter " and said to have even bred in Maine. 

 They are noted, not only for their physiognomy^ which corre- 

 sponds to their mode of life, but for their habit of hunting dur- 

 ing the day like a Hawk. It is probable, however, that they 

 see well at night, as the one which I observed was active at 

 dusk. His flight was much like that of a small Hawk, and 

 seemed less absolutely noiseless than that of other Owls. Mr. 

 Dall, as quoted by Dr. Brewer, says of this species that " it is 

 very fond of flying, towards dusk, from the top of one small 

 spruce to another, apparently swinging or balancing itself, 

 calling to its mate at intervals, while chasing or being chased 



* An irregular winter viaitor, not vals — perhaps on the average once in 



positively known to breed in any part every four or five years — our taxider- 



of New England. In Massachusetts mists receive a good many specimens 



and to the southward it is of very rare from Maine and New Hampshire. ~ 



occurrence, but at greater or less inter- W. B. 



