130 



Genus IV.— SYRNIUM, Cuv. HOOTING-OWL. 



Bill short, stout, broad at the base; upper mandible with its dorsal outline 

 convex to the end of the cere, then curved, the sides sloping and nearly flat, 

 the tip compressed, decurved, acute; lower mandible small, with the dorsal 

 line convex, the tip narrow, the edges decurved toward the end. Nostrils 

 large, elliptical. Conch of the ear of medium size, and furnished with an 

 anterior semicircular operculum, beset with slender feathers. Legs rather 

 short; tarsi very short, and with the toes feathered. Claws slightly curved, 

 long, slender, compressed, acuminate. Plumage very soft and downy; facial 

 disks complete. Wings very large, much rounded, the outer quill with the 

 tips of the filaments separated and recurved, as are those of the terminal 

 portion of the next; the outer six with the inner webs sinuate. Tail broad, 

 rounded. 



GREAT CINEREOUS OWL. 



"f Syrnitjm cinereum, Linn. 



PLATE XXXV. 



This fine Owl, which is the largest of the North American species, is 

 nowhere common with us, although it ranges from the north-eastern coast of 

 the United States to the sources of the Columbia River. It has been procured 

 near Eastport in Maine, and at Marblehead in Massachusetts, where one of 

 them was taken alive, perched on a wood pile, early in the morning, in 

 February, 1831. I went to Salem for the purpose of seeing it, but it had 

 died, and I could not trace its remains. The gentleman, Mr. Ives, in whose 

 keeping it had been for several months, fed it on fish and small birds, of 

 which it was very fond. Besides shewing me various marks of attention, he 

 gave me a drawing of it made by his wife, which is still in my possession. 

 It uttered at times a tremulous cry not unlike that of the Little Screech Owl, 

 Strix Jlsio, and shewed a great antipathy to cats and dogs. In the winter 

 of 1832, I saw one of these Owls flying over the harbour of Boston, Massa- 

 chusetts, amid several Gulls, all of which continued teasing it until it disap- 

 peared. I have seen specimens procured on the Rocky Mountains by Mr. 



