2 4 
Brewster on the Acadian Owl. 
about their haunts. The operation was a peculiar one. The 
Owl would gape several times, then the head would be violently 
shaken sideways, and finally the pellet, coated with mucous, 
would shoot forth, frequently falling several inches in front of the 
spot where the bird was sitting. After it was all over the little 
fellow assumed an expression of relief and contentment which 
was very comical. 
Although not less grave and solemn than other Owls, their 
movements were much more animated and restless. They were 
continually flying or hopping from place to place, even in the day- 
time, and they had a frequent habit of oscillating the head, at 
the same time lengthening and shortening the neck. This was 
apparently done for the purpose of fixing the exact position of 
some distant object, as afterwards the bird usually flew to the 
top of some door or book-case towards which its eyes had evi- 
dently been directed. Their only cry at this time was a shrill 
bat-like squeaking, which was frequently given by all four at 
once. Altogether they were unusually interesting pets and when 
the time came for preparing three of them as specimens, I found 
it very hard to break up the affectionate and attractive little 
family. 
I believe it is now generally admitted by ornithologists, that 
the so called “iV. albifrons ” is simply the young of JV. acadica. 
Indeed, Mr Ridgway satisfactorily settled this point when he 
cited * the testimony of Dr. J. W. Velie of Chicago who kept a 
live u albifrons ” “until it moulted and became a fine specimen 
of Nyctale acadica.” But as no one seems to have published a 
detailed account of the transition it may be worth while to briefly 
record some observations made on the survivor of the brood just 
mentioned. 
This bird was placed in a large cage where it had abundant 
room to fly about, and was kept well supplied with food. 
Through June and July there was absolutely no fchange in its 
plumage, but on August i I noticed a few medially spotted 
feathers pushing their way through the uniformly brown ones of 
the fore part of the crown. Through the next two weeks they 
gradually increased and developed until the full-face aspect of the 
head was that of an adult Saw-whet. At this stage there was no 
* Baird, Brewer and Ridgway’s Birds N. Am., Vol. Ill, p. 45. 
