126 
THE LITTLE OR ACADIAN - OWL. 
Little Owl, Strix passerina, Wils. Amer. Orn., vol. iv. p. 61. 
Strix acadica, Bonap. Syn. p v 38. 
Strix acadica, American Sparrow Owl, Swains, and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. 
p. 97. 
Acadian Owl, Strix acadica , Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 137. 
Little or Acadian Owl, Strix acadica , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. ii. p. 567 ; vol. v. p. 397. 
General colour of upper part olivaceous brown ; scapulars and some of the 
wing-coverts spotted with white; the first six primary quills obliquely barred 
with white ; tail darker, with two narrow white bars ; upper part of head 
streaked with greyish-white ; disks pale yellowish-grey ; ruff white, spotted 
with dusky. Lower parts whitish, the sides and breast marked with broad 
elongated patches of brownish-red. 
Male, - 7§, 17. Female, 81, 18. 
Genus III.— STRIX, Linn. SCREECH-OWL. 
Bill short, compressed, deep, strong ; upper mandible with its dorsal out- 
line straight to the end of the cere, then curved, the sides nearly flat and 
erect, the tip deflected, with a rounded but sharp-edged point ; lower man- 
dible with the dorsal line convex, the sides convex, the edges arched, the 
tip obliquely truncate. Conch of the ear semicircular, extending from 
over the anterior angle of the eye to the middle of the lower jaw ; aperture 
large, somewhat square, with an anterior operculum fringed with feathers. 
Legs rather long, tarsus long, feathered, scaly at the lower part ; toes large, 
the first short, the inner nearly as long as the middle, all with series of 
small tuberculiform oblong scales, intermixed with a few bristles, and 
three broad scutella at the end. Claws arched, long, extremely sharp, 
the edge of the third thin and transversely cracked in old birds. Plumage 
very soft and downy ; facial disks complete. Wings long, ample, rounded; 
the first quill with the filaments recurved. Tail rather short, even. 
