200 Birds of Colorado 
open country where there is water with high grass and 
bushes, among which it lurks. It is a silent bird, but 
if disturbed utters a few mournful cries, and chatters 
with its mandibles. It preys chiefly on mice and other 
small rodents, occasionally on small birds and insects. 
The nest is a rough affair of coarse grass and sticks, 
sparsely lined with finer materia] and feathers. It is 
placed on the ground, usually sheltered and hidden by 
a tuft of grass or by a bush. The eggs, four to seven 
in number, are white in colour and ovate in shape, and 
average 1:55 x 1:25. Morrison states: “ Begins laying 
in April. Eggs four or five. Nest on the ground on 
open prairie, or more commonly upon mesas under a 
clump of scrub-oak, or bunch of high grass or sage-brush.”’ 
He does not implicitly say that he himself found a nest. 
Genus STRIX. 
Of moderate size; wing 12—14; bill yellow, nostrils at the edge 
of the small cere; facial disk complete and large; no ear-tufts; ear- 
openings large, somewhat asymmetrical with a moderate operculum, 
scarcely extending the length of the opening ; wing rounded, not twice 
tho length of the tail; tarsus always completely feathered; toes 
wholly or partly so. 
A large genus, chiefly in the northern hemisphere, with two distinct 
United States species and several local races. 
A. Larger; wing generally over 13; abdomen streaked with dark 
brown. S. varia, p. 200, 
B. Smaller; wing generally under 13; abdomen transversely 
barred with brown. S. occidentalis, p. 201. 
Barred Owl. Sérix varia. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 368—Colorado Records—Aiken 00, p. 298 
(Syrnium nebulosum): Cooke 97, p. 205; Henderson 07, p. 198; 
09, p. 230. 
Description.—Above dark brown irregularly barred and spotted with 
buffy, whitish and yellowish-brown ; wings and tail banded; head, 
neck and breast widely barred with dark brown and white or buffy ; 
belly streaked with dark brown on a whitish or buffy ground ; facial 
