HORNED OWLS, ETC. 
181 
gray-coated night woodsman. In the daytime he snuggles up to 
some gray trunk under the thick branches of a dark spruce, or hides 
in the leafy canopy of a forest tree. At night he floats on noiseless 
wings along the edges of the open parks and meadows, passing 
from tree to tree and bush to bush, dropping on unsuspecting mice 
that rustle the grass or venture into the open spaces under the trees, 
finding an abundance of food even when the snow is deep and the 
nights crisp and cold. 
With the first thaws of early spring his love-song is heard, —a 
soft scraping note repeated monotonously in quick succession for 
half an hour at a time. It usually comes first from the woodpecker 
hole where he has been spending the day, but later in the evening 
is repeated from the branches in different parts of the woods. Before 
the snow has all gone the eggs are laid, sometimes in the woodpecker 
hole where his voice was first heard, sometimes in another near by. 
By the time the first really warm spring weather has come the young 
have hatched. Then the old birds are too busy catching mice for 
their large family to give much time to music, and they are not 
heard again regularly until the next spring. But they have many 
soft little talking notes that you can hear by sleeping in their woods 
on still summer nights. Vernon Bailey. 
372a. N. a. scotsea Osgood. Northwest Saw-whet Owl. 
Similar to N. acadica, but darker, dark markings everywhere heavier; 
flanks, legs, and feet more rufeseent. Wing: 3.33, tail 2.66, tarsus 1.03. 
Distribution. — Puget Sound region, north to Queen Charlotte Islands, 
B. C. 
GENUS MEGASCOPS. 
General Characters .— Wing: 5.40-7.80; ear tufts more or less con¬ 
spicuous ; ear openings small, the two ears alike ; wings rounded, about 
twice the length of the short rounded tail; tarsus feathered. 
KEY TO SPECIES. 
1. Toes feathered or bristly. 
2. Size large, wing averaging about 7 or more. 
3. Plumage dark and heavily mottled. 
4. Dichromatic; brown form with back deep sooty brown. Oregon 
to Sitka. kennicottii, p. 183. 
4'. Monochromatic ; back grayish brown. East of Cascades. 
macfarlanei, p. 184. 
3'. Plumage pale ashy gray, lightly streaked. Rocky Mountains. 
maxwelliae, p. 183. 
2'. Size smaller, wing averaging 6.60 or less. 
3. Wing averaging less than 6; plumage dichromatic. 
4. Throat without fulvous collar. Southwestern Texas and Mexico. 
mccalli, p. 183. 
4'. Throat with partial collar of mottled fulvous in gray phase. 
Mexico and southern Arizona .... trichopsis, p. 184. 
