180 RED OWL. 



" After a careful examination of these and several other re- 

 markable differences, it was impossible to withstand the con- 

 viction that these birds belonged to two distinct species of the 

 same genus, differing in size, colour, and conformation of 

 parts. 



" A statement of the principal of these facts having been 

 laid before Mr Bartram, together with a male and female of 

 each of the above-mentioned species, and also a male of the 

 great Virginian bat, or chuck-will's-widow, after a particular 

 examination, that venerable naturalist was pleased to declare 

 himself fully satisfied ; adding, that he had now no doubt of 

 the night hawk and the whip-poor-will being two very distinct 

 species of Caprimulgus. 



" It is not the intention of the writer of this to enter at pre- 

 sent into a description of either the plumage, manners, migra- 

 tions, or economy of these birds, the range of country they 

 inhabit, or the superstitious notions entertained of them ; his 

 only object at present is the correction of an error, which, from 

 the respectability of those by whom it was unwarily adopted, 

 has been but too extensively disseminated, and received by too 

 many as a truth." 



BED OWL. {Strix asio) 



PLATE XLIL— Fig. 1, Female. 



Little Owl, Catesb. i. 7.— Lath. i. 123.— Linn. Syst. 132.— Arct. Zool. ii. No. 117. 

 — Turton, Syst. i. p. 166.— Peale's Museum, No. 428. 



STRIX ASIO.—L.TSSMOS.—YOVSG* 

 Strix asio, Bonap. Synop. p. 36. 



This is another of our nocturnal wanderers, well known by 

 its common name, the little screech owl; and noted for its 

 melancholy quivering kind of wailing in the evenings, parti- 

 cularly towards the latter part of summer and autumn, near 

 the farmhouse. On clear moonlight nights, they answer each 



* See "Vol. I. for description of the adult of this species, and Note. 



