98 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



a short way, and again takes shelter from the light. At the approach of twilight 

 it is all life and activity, being a noted and dexterous mouse-catcher. It builds 

 its nest generally in pines, half way up the tree, and lays two eggs, which, like 

 those of the rest of its genus, are white. The melancholy and gloomy umbrage 

 of those solitary evergreens forms its favorite haunts, where it sits dozing and 

 slumbering all day, lulled by the roar of the neighbouring ocean." 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen killed on Thompson's River, New Caledonia, to the westward of the Rocky Mountains. 



Colour. — Bill black. Facial circle of a soiled-white colour, mixed with black immediately 

 round the orbit, and with yellowish-brown posteriorly. Ground colour of the plumage on 

 the dorsal aspect liver-brown. The velvety feathers behind the facial circle differ from those 

 of Strix Tengmalmi in not presenting a deeper tint of brown than the rest of the plumage, 

 and in being much more generally speckled with white. The feathers of the head are also of 

 a lighter brown than in that species, and have only a narrow white streak along the shaft, 

 instead of round white spots. On the dorsal aspect of the neck most of the feathers have a 

 large spot of white in their middles, as in Strix Tengmalmi. The back, tail coverts, and more 

 interior scapularies, are unspotted ; but there are some white blotches on the exterior scapu- 

 laries. Above the primary coverts the wing has a narrow white margin j and there are four or 

 five white spots on the outer margins of the secondary coverts, forming an oblique interrupted 

 band. There are likewise three or four white spots on the outer margins of the primaries, 

 and a white posterior border to the tertiaries ; but the tips of all the quill feathers and the rest 

 of the wing are brown. There are, indeed, three or four oval white marks on the inner webs 

 of the quill feathers, but none of them show unless the feathers be separated. The tail is 

 liver-brown, very narrowly tipped with soiled-white, and crossed by two narrow interrupted 

 white bars, more than half an inch apart. There is a third less perfect bar, which is concealed 

 by the tail coverts. 



The under surface of the body is white, intermixed with chestnut-brown blotches, which 

 occupy the middles of the feathers. The linings of the wings are white, tinged more or less 

 with chestnut-brown ; and the inner surfaces of the quill feathers and tail are broccoli-brown, 

 with white spots corresponding to those of the exterior surfaces. Thighs and feet clothed 

 with yellowish-brown feathers. 



Form, &c. — Head large. Bill rather less curved than that of Strix Tengmalmi. Shape 

 of the cere and nostrils the same as in that species. Facial circle complete. Concha more 

 than an inch long, with a moderately broad operculum. Wings nearly as long as the tail, 

 and of precisely the same form with those of Strix Tengmalmi. Tail short, nearly square, 

 the outer feathers on each side being only a little shorter than the others, which are even. 

 When the legs are stretched out, the claws reach the end of the tail. Tarsi rather longer 

 than those of Strix Tengmalmi. Toes feathered to the nails, only one scale being visible. 

 Inner nail rather longer than the middle one. The outer and the hind nail are smaller, and 

 are rounded beneath. 



