126 THE LITTLE OR ACADIAN OWL. 



Little Owl, Strix passerina, Wils. Amer. Om., vol. iv. p. 61. 



Strix acadica, Bonap. Syn., p. 38. 



Strix acadica, American Sparrow Owl, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 97. 



Acadian Owl, Strix acadica, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 137. 



Little or Acadian Owl, Strix acadica, Aud. Om. Biog., vol. ii. p. 567; vol. v. p. 397. 



General colour of upper part olivaceous brown; scapulars and some of the 

 wing-coverts spotted with white; the first six primary quills obliquely barred 

 with white; tail darker, with two narrow white bars; upper part of head 

 streaked with greyish-white; disks pale yellowish-grey; ruff white, spotted 

 with dusky. Lower parts whitish, the sides and breast marked with broad 

 elongated patches of brownish-red. 



Male, 7 \, 17. Female, S|, 18. 



Genus III.— STRIX, Linn. SCREECH-OWL. 



Bill short, compressed, deep, strong; upper mandible with its dorsal out- 

 line straight to the end of the cere, then curved, the sides nearly flat and 

 erect, the tip deflected, with a rounded but sharp-edged point; lower man- 

 dible with the dorsal line convex, the sides convex, the edges arched, the 

 tip obliquely truncate. Conch of the ear semicircular, extending from over 

 the anterior angle of the eye to the middle of the lower jaw; aperture large, 

 somewhat square, with an anterior operculum fringed with feathers. Legs 

 rather long, tarsus long, feathered, scaly at the lower part; toes large, the 

 first short, the inner nearly as long as the middle, all with series of small 

 tuberculiform oblong scales, intermixed with a few bristles, and three broad 

 scutella at the end. Claws arched, long, extremely sharp, the edge of the 

 third thin and transversely cracked in old birds. Plumage very soft and 

 downy; facial disks complete. Wings long, ample, rounded; the first quill 

 with the filaments recurved. Tail rather short, even. 



