92 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[25.] 8. Strix funerea. (Lath.) American Hawk Owl. 



Genus. Strix. Linn. Sub-genus. Surnia. Dumeril. 



The Little Hawk Owl. ( Ulida Accipetri affinis.) Edwards, pi. 62. 



Strix funerea. Forster. Phil. Trans., lxii., p. 385. 



Canada Owl. Lath. Syn., i., p. 142, sp. 29. Idem. SuppL, i., p. 47. 



Hawk Owl. Penn. Arct. Zool., xi., p. 234, sp. 123. 



Strix funerea. Lath. Tnd., i., p. 62, sp. 35. 



Hawk Owl. (Strix Hudsonia.) Wilson, vi., p. 04, pi. 50, f. 6. 



Strix funerea. Temm., i., p. 86. Sabine. Frankl.Joum , p. 671- Bonap. Syn., p. 35, sp. 23. 



Paypaw thee-cawsew, or Cobadecootch. Cree Indians. 



Theechazza. Copper Indians and Chepewyans. 



Ood no haeoot. Esquimaux. 



This small Owl, which inhabits the Arctic Circle in both continents, belongs to 

 a natural group, that have small heads destitute of tufts, small and imperfect 

 facial disks, auditory openings neither operculated nor much exceeding those of 

 other birds in size, and considerable analogy in their habits to the diurnal birds 

 of prey. It remains all the winter in high northern latitudes, and is rarely seen 

 so far south as Pennsylvania, and then only in severe winters. Wilson saw only 

 two specimens in the United States. It is a common species throughout the fur- 

 countries from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, and is more frequently killed than any 

 other by the hunters, which may be partly attributed to its boldness and its habit 

 of flying about by day. In the summer season it feeds principally on mice and 

 insects ; but in the snow-clad regions, which it frequents in the winter, neither of 

 these are to be procured, and it then preys mostly on Ptarmigan. It is a con- 

 stant attendant on the flocks of Ptarmigan in their spring migrations to the north- 

 ward. It builds its nest on a tree, of sticks, grass, and feathers, and lays two 

 white eggs. When the hunters are shooting Grouse, this bird is occasionally 

 attracted by the report of the gun, and is often bold enough, on a bird being 

 killed, to pounce down upon it, though it may be unable from its size to carry it 

 off. It is also known to hover round the fires made by the natives at night. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen killed at Cumberland House, lat. 54°, May, 1827. 



Colour. — Bill pale-yellow or whitish. The wiry feathers forming the imperfect facial 

 circle are intermixed with many black hairs at the inner corner of the eye, are greyish-white 

 behind and beneath the eye, and are bounded posteriorly by a line of deep black. The whole 



