274 HAWK OWL. 



that this same species inhabits Denmark and Sweden, is fre- 

 quent in all Siberia, and on the west side of the Uralian chain 

 as far as Casan and the Volga ; but not in Kussia.* It was 

 also seen by the navigators near Sandwich Sound, in lat. 61 

 deg. north. 



This species is very rare in Pennsylvania and the more 

 southern parts of the United States. Its favourite range seems 

 to be along the borders of the arctic regions, making occa- 

 sional excursions southwardly when compelled by severity of 

 weather, and consequent scarcity of food. I some time ago 

 received a drawing of this bird from the district of Maine, 

 where it was considered rare : that, and the specimen from 

 which the drawing in the plate was taken, which was shot in 

 the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, are the only two that have 

 come under my notice. These having luckily happened to 

 be male and female, have enabled me to give a description 

 of both. Of their nest or manner of breeding we have 

 no account. 



The male of this species is fifteen inches long; the bill, 

 orange yellow, and almost hid among the feathers ; plumage 

 of the chin, curving up over the under mandible ; eyes, bright 

 orange ; head, small ; face, narrow, and with very little con- 

 cavity ; cheeks, white ; crown and hind head, dusky black, 

 thickly marked with round spots of white ; sides of the neck, 

 marked with a large curving streak of brown black, with 

 another a little behind it of a triangular form ; back, scapulars, 

 rump, and tail-coverts, brown olive, thickly speckled with 

 broad spots of white ; the tail extends three inches beyond 

 the tips of the wings, is of a brown olive colour, and crossed 

 with six or seven narrow bars of white, rounded at the end, 

 and also tipt with white ; the breast and chin are marked with 

 a large spot of brown olive ; upper part of the breast, light ; 

 lower, and all the parts below, elegantly barred with dark 

 brown and white ; legs and feet, covered to and beyond the 

 claws with long whitish plumage, slightly yellow, and barred 



* Pennant. 



