OF NEW ENGLAND. 333 
of entering a darkened chamber, and observing the eyes of 
a grim ancestral portrait, as they everywhere follow one, as 
if to shame one out of some degeneracy. It is often diffi- 
cult to start these owls, but sometimes, if your back is turned, 
they take the opportunity to glide away silently, and I have 
observed that on such occasions they do not seer to be much 
embarrassed by the light. They hunt at night, and are said to 
feed upon small birds, mice, snakes, frogs, and also larger 
game. I am inclined to believe that the males and females 
live apart except in the early spring-season, when their hoot- 
ings are heard,.even during the day. 
(d). Their hootings are guttural, and rather startling, 
though ludicrous. Audubon thought that they might be com- 
pared to an affected burst of laughter. It has been asserted 
that the voice of the male is much weaker than that of his 
mate, as well as much less often heard. 
IV. NYCTALE 
(A) TENGMALMT (var. RIcHARDSONI). American (Sparrow) 
Owl. Richardson’s Owl. 
(In Massachusetts, extremely rare.) 
(a). About 10} inches long. Except in size, essentially 
like NW. Acadica (B). 
(>). Dr. Brewer describes one egg as measuring 1:28 1-06 
of an inch. 
(c). The American Sparrow Owl is another species, whose 
occurrence in Massachusetts, even as a winter-visitor, is quite 
accidental, and about whose habits not much is apparently 
known by modern ornithologists. I have never seen one alive, 
and I shall therefore quote the brief biography of Audubon, 
who in his turn is obliged to quote from Richardson. 
“J procured a fine male of this species at. Bangor, in Maine, 
on the Penobscot, in the beginning of September, 1832; but 
am unacquainted with its habits, never having seen another 
individual alive. Mr. Townsexp informs me that he found it 
on the Malade River Mountains, where it was so tame and 
unsuspicious, that Mr. Nurray.was enabled to approach within 
