30 
STRIX CUNICULARIA. 
approaches the nest daring the period of rearing ^ 
young, the parents eviuce the greatest alarm, hoverij* 
around, and expressing their anxiety hy repeating' t’ 
syllables, geg, gey, gag ; or ge, ge, tie, ge, ge. CroJ 
manifest a particular hostility to this species, a* 
destroy numbers of their uests. 
The hen-harrier is widely spread over both eontinei ||! 
perhaps more than any other laud bird, though it is )' 
where remarkably numerous. In the northern count?* 
of America, it is a migratory species, extending 1 
wanderings from Florida to Hudson’s Bay. It is >[! 
known to breed in the Northern, or even in the Mid 1 ' 
States, where the adults are but rarely seen. In 
Southern parts of the Union, and especially in Flori" 
they are rather common in all their varieties of plum#! 
The species is also found in the West Indies, Cayen 11 
and probably has an extensive range in South Amerh 
It is found throughout Britain, Germany, Italy, 1 
north of Africa, and the northern portion of Asia, 
is very common in France and the Netherlands,^ fo 1 * 
in Russia and Sweden, hut does not inhabit the no* 
of Norway, being by no means an Arctic bird. R 
again met with in the southern parts of Africa, 
the Cape of Good Hope, and is not uncommon all ah* 
the eastern coast of that continent. In Switzerla* 
and other mountainous countries, it is of very ^ 
occurrence. 
GENUS III — STRIX, Linn jE us. 
4. STRIX CUNICULARIA, MOLINA. BCKIIOWING OWL, BOS* 1 
BONAPARTE, PLATE VII. FIG. II. 
.V ■ 
Venerable ruins, crumbling under the influent:^ 
time and vicissit udes of season, are habitually assooi® 1 . 
with our recollections of the owl ; or he is considf* 
as the tenant of sombre forests, whose nocturnal gl®! 
is rendered deeper and more awful by the harsh ^ 
sonance of his voice. In poetry he has long h 1 ' 
regarded as the appropriate concomitant of dark® ' 
and horror; and, when heard screaming from the 
