HAWK OWL. 183 



SURNIA FUNEREA. 

 HAWK OWL. 



Stiix canadensis, Bn'ss. Oni. i, p. ■~A><, pi. xxxvii. fig. 2 (1760). 



Strix fi-eti-hudnonis, Briss. Oi/i. i. p. fyJO (17tj0). 



Strix fvmerea, Linii. S^/st. Xat. i. p. l.'iS (17(;<i); et auctorum plurimorum — 



{Bonaparte), ((!<,iild), [Sfricldand), Middendorff, Sclirenck, Radde, {Dresser), 



{Xeictnn), &c. 

 Strix caparocli, Miill. Natursyst. Supjil. i. p. Ori (1770, ex Bdwards). 

 Strix hudsonia, Gin///. Syst. Xat. i. p. 29.5 (1788j. 

 Strix nisoria, Meyer, Taiehenh. p. 84 (1810). 



Surnia cauiukiipis (Briss.), Sfeph. Shatc's den. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 02 (182.5). 

 Stryx doliata, I'all. Zuugr. Ilnsxn-As. i. p. .310 (l.'^20). 

 Koctua nisoria (Meyer), Ciiv. Regne An. i. p. 344 (1829). 

 Surnia borealis, Less. Traite, i. p. 100 f 1831). 



Surnia hudsonia (Giiiel.), James, ed. IJ'ds. Am. Orn. i. p. 90 (1831). 

 Xoctua fuuerea {Liim.), Jen. Brit. Vert. p. 520 (l83o). 



Surnia funerea (Linn.), Bonap. (Jump. List B. Eur. ^ N. Amer. p. 6 (1838). 

 Surnia funorea {Linn.), Macgill. Brit. B. i. p. 139 (1840). 

 Nycthierax nisoria {Meyer), Meoes, Ofo. L\iiinyl. Vel.-Ah. Fiirli. 1879, p. 39. 

 Surnia ulula {Linn.), apud Bonaparte, {Schlegel), C'as.^in, Sharpe, &c. 



At least six examples o£ a species of Hawk Owl have been obtained in 

 the British Islands within the last half-century^ particulars of which are 

 given below. Some writers, as Sharpe and Dresser, consider the American 

 and European Hawk Owls "perfectly distinct species;" others, as Baird, 

 Brewer, and Ridgway, make the Palaarctic form only subspecifically 

 distinct from the Nearctic form ; whilst Newton, in his edition of 

 ' YarrelFs British Birds,'' unites the two forms without note or comment 

 of any kind respecting the alleged diiferences between them. 



There are in reality three varieties of the Hawk Owl. ^\ hudsonia is the 

 American form, scarcely differing at all in the colour of the upper parts 

 from the typical bird, except that the white bands on the tail are rather 

 more developed, also the white spots on the quills, feathers of the head, and 

 scapulars. On the underparts the difterence is much more striking; the 

 dark transverse bands are much redder (chestnut-brown instead of greyish 

 brown) and broader (varying from one to two of white, instead of two to 

 four, to one of brown). The typical or European form, for which the only 

 name that has not been misapplied is /S. nisoria, is an intermediate form 

 between the American one and the Siberian or Arctic one. The latter, 

 B. doliata, differs from the European form in having the white parts purer 

 white and the dark parts darker and greyer. The differences between 

 these three varieties, however, are very small, and not much greater than 

 those of age, sex, and season. Females and young males are paler on the 

 upper parts, and have the dark bars on the underparts slightly broader and 

 more rufous than adult males. In young females these differences are still 

 more pronounced. 



