STEIGIUJt^: OTHER OWLS. 
511 
Carolinas and Texas; there being no part of the U. S. where it may not appear at that season. 
It is far from being exclusively nocturnal, and hunts abroad in the day-time as readily as any 
hawk. It has never been ascertained to breed in the U. S., though it probably does so in 
Maine, as is certainly the case little further north. It is capable of enduring the rigors 
Arctic winters. The nest is usually upon the ground or rocks ; the eggs are 5 to 10, laid at 
intervals (as is the case with various other owls), so that the nest may contain fresh and incu- 
bated eggs and young birds at once; they are equal-ended, about 2.50 X 1-90. The bird preys 
upon grouse, ptarmigan, hares, and smaller game, especially the field-mice and lemmings 
which swarm in the Arctic regions. 
166. SUR'NIA. (Etym. of Surnia or Syrnium unknown.) Hawk Owls. Skull and ear-parts 
nmch as in Buho or Nyctea; latter non-operculate, the opening of small size ; facial disc very 
little developed, and eyes not centric to it; no plumicorns. Wings folding far short of end of 
tail; third primary longest; first 4 emarginate on inner webs. Tail remarkably long, little 
shorter than the wing, much graduated, with lanceolate feathers. Feet thickly and completely 
feathered to the claws ; tarsus scarcely or not longer than middle toe. Of medium size, with a 
peculiarly neat and dressy appearance, for an owl, the whole plumage being more strict than in 
other members of this family. There is but one species, common to northern portions of both 
hemispheres, as hawk-like in habits as in mien, though unmistakably an owl. 
480. S. fune'rea. (Lat. funerea, funereal. Fig. 358.) American Hawk Owl. Day Owl. 
Bill and eyes yellow ; claws brownish-black. Upper parts bistre-brown, darkest and almost 
blackish on the head, where profusely 
spotted with small round white marks, 
to which succeeds a nuchal interval less 
spotted or free from spots, then an area 
of larger and lengthened spots ; scapulars 
profusely spotted with white in large 
pattern, forming a scapular bar as in 
Scops; back and wing-coverts more or 
less spotted with white also ; primaries 
and secondaries with white spots in pairs 
on opposite edges of the feathers. Tail 
broken-barred with white or pale gray, 
usually narrowly and distinctly, on one 
or both webs, and tipped with the same ; 
but there is great individual variation in 
this respect, as may also be said of the 
amount and character of the spotting of 
the whole upper parts. Uuder parts 
from the breast backward, including the 
crissum, closely and regularly cross - 
barred with rich reddish-brown, or even 
reddish-black, upon a white ground, the 
alternating bars of color usually of 
about equal widths — if anything, the 
white the broadest. The lining of the Fig. 358. — Hawk Owl, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 
wmgs shares the same character, but is more spotty ; the paws are mottled with brown and 
whitish, in different pattern. On the breast the regular barring gives way, the tendency being 
to form a dark pectoral band on a white or spotted ground, but this disposition is seldom per- 
fected. Facial disc mostly whitish, bounded by a conspicuous blackish crescent behind the 
ear. When the dark nuchal collar is perfected, a second bar curves down behind the first on 
