HORNED OWLS, ETC. 
179 
and broadly tipped with whitish ; tail banded; under parts whitish, barred and 
spotted with brown. Length: 19, wing 12.00-13.50, tail 8.50-9.00, hill .90. 
Distribution. —From southern Colorado and New Mexico to California 
and south to Lower California and northwestern Mexico. 
The spotted owl is the western representative of the barred owl, 
and is so closely confined to the thinly settled mountain regions of 
the west that little is known of its habits. Mr. Lyman Belding 
compares its call to the barking of a dog. 
369a. S. o. caurinum Merriam. Northern Spotted Owl. 
Similar to the spotted owl, but darker, with white spots and markings 
restricted, especially on head and back ; wing quills darker, the broad 
white tip almost obsolete. Wing: 12.10; tail (middle feathers) 8.00. 
Distribution. — Coast region of Washington and British Columbia. 
GENUS SCOTIAPTEX. 
370. Scotiaptex cinerea (GW.). Great Gray Owl. 
Ear tufts wanting ; ear openings large, with conspicuous anterior flap, 
the two ears strikingly different; bill and feet small, bill inconspicuous 
among facial feathers ; toes entirely covered with feathers; eyes yel¬ 
low, eye ring black; face with concentric rings of gray and dark brown ; 
upper parts sooty, mottled with gray and blackish ; wing quills and tail 
banded ; under parts mixed sooty and whitish, with irregular sooty streak¬ 
ing ; flanks and legs barred. Length: 25-30, extent 54-60, wing about 
16-18, tail 11.00-12.50. 
Distribution. — Northern North America, south in winter to the northern 
border of the United States. 
Nest. — In evergreens, made of sticks, feathers, and sometimes mosses. 
Eggs: 2 to 4, white. 
Food. — Mainly rabbits, mice, and other small mammals, together with 
birds. 
‘ ‘ Its great predilection for thick woods, in which it dwells doubt¬ 
less to the very limit of trees, prevents it from being an inhabitant 
of the barren grounds or other open country in the north. It is 
crepuscular or slightly nocturnal in the southern parts of its range, 
but in the high north it pursues its prey in the daytime. In the 
latter region, where the sun never passes below the horizon in sum¬ 
mer, it is undoubtedly necessity and not choice that prompts it to be 
abroad in the daylight. . . . The note of this owl is said to be a 
tremulous, vibrating sound, somewhat resembling that of the screech 
owl.” (Fisher.) 
GENUS NYCTALA. 
General Characters. — Wing 5.25-7.40 ; ear tufts wanting ; ear openings 
nearly equal to height of skull, with anterior flap, the two ears conspic¬ 
uously different; feet thickly feathered to claws. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Wing 6.50 or more. richardsoni, p. 180. 
T. Wing less than 6. 
