THE MOTTLED OWL. 371 







fully feathered, and are then generally of the color exhibited 
in the plate (ved). The feathers change their color as the 
pairing season advances, and in the first spring the bird is in 
perfect dress (gray).” How, then, can a gray and red pair, 
as the young never pair until the following spring? From 
the above quotations you perceive that there is a great differ- 
ence among scientific ornithologists as to which is the adult 
and which is the young ;—and, if it will not seem egotisti- 
cal, allow me to say that I believe all are right and all are 
Wrong; for, according to my investigations, there is an adult 
red and an adult gray, and also a young red and a young 
gray. As “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth” is or should be the only desideratum known among 
naturalists, I propose to give my experience and observa- 
tions, hoping to elucidate the subject somewhat, intending 
still to prosecute my researches until the identity or non- 
identity is settled beyond dispute. A writer in the trans- 
actions of the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia, vol. 8, 
P. 53, expresses my views on the subject. He says that 
the color of both young and old is variable and uncertain, 
or else they are specifically distinct, having observed both 
the old and young of the Mottled-gray Owl, neither of 
Which had the slightest shade of red about them ;” -and I ean 
add, that I have not only observed the same, but also the 
adult Red on her nest with red young. In my collection is 
à Mottled Owl that was taken from her nest in a hollow tree 
7 that she had occupied several years with one of her young, 
_ ‘Relther of which had.a red feather on them. I have also a 
acC Owl that was taken from her nest by a farmer who in- 
i me that she had nested close by his house in the 
_ Same hollow tree four or five years, and that he had been: in 
the habit of taking her out and showing her to his friends, 
but having a brood of chickens disappear suddenly, he sup- 
Posed this owl was the thief. In answer to my interroga- 
tions, he said she had always the same red color. In the ; 
Pring of 1860, I found a Red Owl on her nest with four 


