Part 6

_Young_ (♂, 12,814, Racine, Wisconsin, July, 1859; Dr. R. P. Hoy). Upper surface continuous plain dark sepia-olive; face darker, approaching fuliginous-vandyke,—perfectly uniform; around the edge of the forehead, a few shaft-lines of white; scapulars with a concealed spot of pale ochraceous on lower web; lower feathers of wing-coverts with a few white spots; outer feather of the alula scalloped with white; primary coverts perfectly plain; five outer primaries with white spots on outer webs, these diminishing toward the end of the feathers, leaving only two or three series well defined; tail darker than the wings, with three narrow bands composed of white spots, these not touching the shaft on either web. “Eyebrows” immaculate white; lores more dusky; face and eyelids dark vandyke-brown; sides of the chin white. Throat and whole breast like the back, but the latter paler medially, becoming here more fulvous; rest of the lower parts plain fulvous-ochraceous, growing gradually paler posteriorly,—immaculate. Lining of the wing plain dull white; under surface of primaries with dusky prevailing, but this crossed by bands of large whitish spots; the three outer feathers, however, present a nearly uniformly dusky aspect, being varied only basally. Wing formula, 3, 4–2=5 6–7, 1. Wing, 5.50; tail, 2.80; culmen, .45; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .65.

HAB. North America generally. Cold temperate portions in the breeding-season, migrating southward in winter. Mexico (Oaxaca, SCLATER, P. Z. S. 1858, 295); California (DR. COOPER); Cantonment Burgwyn, New Mexico (DR. ANDERSON); Washington Territory (DR. KENNERLY).

A specimen (15,917, ♂, Dr. C. B. Kennerly, Camp Skagitt, September 29, 1859) from Washington Territory is exactly similar to the young described above. No. 10,702 (Fort Burgwyn, New Mexico; Dr. Anderson) is much like it, but the facial circle is quite conspicuous, the feathers having medial white lines; the reddish-olive of the breast and the fulvous of the belly are paler, also, than in the type. No. 12,866, United States, (Professor Baird’s collection, from Audubon,) is perfectly similar to the last.

My reasons for considering the _N. albifrons_ as the young of _N. acadica_ are the following (see American Naturalist, May, 1872):—

1st. All specimens examined (including Hoy’s type of _N. kirtlandi_) are young birds, as is unmistakably apparent from the texture of their plumage.

2d. All specimens examined of the _N. acadica_ are adults. I have seen no description of the young.

3d. The geographical distribution, the size and proportions, the pattern of coloration (except that of the head and body, which in all Owls is more or less different in the young and adult stages), and the shades of colors on the general upper plumage, are the same in both. The white “scalloping” on the outer web of the alula, the number of white spots on the primaries, and the precise number and position of the white bars on the tail, are features common to the two.

4th. The most extreme example of _albifrons_ has the facial circle uniform brown, like the neck, has no spots on the forehead, and the face is entirely uniform dark brown; but,

5th. Three out of the four specimens in the collection have the facial circle composed of white and brown streaks (adult feathers), precisely as in _acadica_, and the forehead similarly streaked (with adult feathers). Two of them have new feathers appearing upon the sides of the breast (beneath the brown patch), as well as upon the face; these new feathers are, in the most minute respects, like the common (adult) dress of _N. acadica_.

The above facts point conclusively to the identity of the _Nyctale “albifrons”_ and _N. acadica_. This species is easily distinguishable from the _N. tengmalmi_, which belongs to both continents, though the North American and European specimens are readily separable, and therefore should be recognized as geographical races.

Since the above was published in the American Naturalist for May, 1872, Dr. J. W. Velie, of Chicago, writing under date of November 20, 1872, furnishes the following proof of the identity of _N. “albifrons”_ and _N. acadica_: “In 1868, I kept a fine specimen of “_Nyctale albifrons_” until it moulted and became a fine specimen of _Nyctale acadica_. I had, until the fire, all the notes about this interesting little species, and photographs in the different stages of moulting.”

HABITS. The Little Acadian or Saw-Whet Owl, as this bird is more generally denominated, appears to have a widespread distribution over temperate North America. It is not known to be anywhere very abundant, though its nocturnal and secluded habits tend to prevent any intimate acquaintance either with its habits or its numbers in any particular locality. It is rarely found in the daytime out of its hiding-places. It was not met with by Richardson in the fur regions, yet it is generally supposed to be a somewhat northern species, occurring only in winter south of Pennsylvania, but for this impression there does not seem to be any assignable reason or any confirmatory evidence. It has been said to breed near Cleveland, Ohio, and its nest and eggs to have been secured. The taking of Kirtland’s Owl, which is now known to be the immature bird of this species, near that city, as well as in Racine, and at Hamilton, Canada, is also suggestive that this Owl may breed in those localities.

Dr. Townsend is said to have found this Owl in Oregon, Dr. Gambel met with it in California, Mr. Audubon has taken it both in Kentucky and in Louisiana, Mr. Wilson met with it in New Jersey, Mr. McCulloch in Nova Scotia, and Dr. Hoy in Wisconsin. Dr. Newberry met with this bird in Oregon, but saw none in California. Dr. Suckley obtained it at the Dalles, on the north side of the Columbia, in December. This was several miles from the timbered region, and the bird was supposed to be living in the basaltic cliffs of the vicinity. Dr. Cooper found one at Vancouver in February. It was dead, and had apparently died of starvation. Professor Snow speaks of it as rare in Kansas. Mr. Boardman and Professor Verrill both give it as resident and as common in Maine. It is rather occasional and rare in Eastern Massachusetts, and Mr. Allen did not find it common near Springfield. On one occasion I found one of these birds in April, at Nahant. It was apparently migrating, and had sought shelter in the rocky cliffs of that peninsula. It was greatly bewildered by the light, and was several times almost on the point of being captured by hand.

This Owl is not unfrequently kept in confinement. It seems easily reconciled to captivity, becomes quite tame, suffers itself to be handled by strangers without resenting the familiarity, but is greatly excited at the sight of mice or rats. Captain Bland had one of these birds in captivity at Halifax, which he put into the same room with a rat. The bird immediately attacked and killed the rat, but died soon after of exhaustion.

The notes of this Owl, during the breeding-season, are said to resemble the noise made by the filing of a saw, and it is known in certain localities as the Saw-Whet. Mr. Audubon, on one occasion, hearing these notes in a forest, and unaware of their source, imagined he was in the vicinity of a saw-mill.

According to Mr. Audubon, this Owl breeds in hollow trees, or in the deserted nests of other birds; and lays from four to six glossy-white eggs, which are almost spherical. He states, also, that he found near Natchez a nest in the broken stump of a small decayed tree not more than four feet high. He also mentions the occasional occurrence of one of these Owls in the midst of one of our crowded cities. One of them was thus taken in Cincinnati, where it was found resting on the edge of a child’s cradle. Mr. McCulloch, quoted by Audubon, gives an interesting account of the notes and the ventriloquial powers of this bird. On one occasion he heard what seemed to him to be the faint notes of a distant bell. Upon approaching the place from which these sounds proceeded, they appeared at one time to be in front of him, then behind him, now on his right hand, now on his left, again at a great distance, and then close behind him. At last he discovered the bird at the entrance of a small hole in a birch-tree, where it was calling to its mate. As he stood at the foot of the tree, in full sight of the bird, he observed the singular power it possessed of altering its voice, making it seem near or remote,—a faculty which he had never noticed in any other bird.

An egg given me by Mr. Rufus E. Winslow as one of this bird, and figured in the North American Oölogy, was undoubtedly that of a Woodpecker. It is of a crystalline whiteness, nearly spherical, and measures 1.13 inches in length by .87 of an inch in breadth.

A well-identified egg in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, taken by Mr. R. Christ at Nazareth, Penn., (No. 14,538, S. I.,) measures .95 of an inch by .88. The two ends are exactly similar or symmetrical. The egg is white, and is marked as having been collected April 25, 1867.

GENUS SCOPS, SAVIGNY.

_Scops_, SAVIGNY, 1809. (Type, _Strix scops_, L. = _Scops zorca_ (GM.) SWAINS.) _Ephialitis_, KEYS. & BL. 1840, _nec_ SCHRANK, 1802. _Megascops_, KAUP, 1848. (Type, _Strix asio_, L.)

GEN. CHAR. Size small, the head provided with ear-tufts. Bill light-colored; iris yellow. Three to four outer quills with inner webs sinuated. Wings long (more than twice the length of the tail, which is short and slightly rounded); second to fifth quills longest. Toes naked, or only scantily feathered. Ear-conch small and simple. Plumage exceedingly variegated, the colors different shades of brown, with rufous, black, and white, in fine mottlings and pencillings; feathers above and below usually with blackish shaft-streaks, those beneath usually with five transverse bars; primaries spotted with whitish, and outer webs of the lower row of scapulars the same edged terminally with black. Tail obscurely banded.

The species of this genus are cosmopolitan, the greater number, however, being found in tropical regions. All the American species differ from _S. zorca_ of Europe in having the fourth and fifth quills longest, instead of the second, and in having three to four, instead of only two, of the outer quills with the inner web sinuated, as well as in having the quills shorter, broader, and more bowed, and their under surface more concave. They may, perhaps, be distinguished as a separate subgenus (_Megascops_, Kaup). Of the American species all but _S. asio_ (including its several races) have the toes perfectly naked to their very bases.

Species and Races.

COMMON CHARACTERS. Plumage brown, gray, or rufous, and whitish, finely mottled above; lower parts transversely barred, and with dark shaft-streaks. Outer webs of lower scapulars light-colored (white or ochraceous) and without markings. Tail crossed by rather obscure mottled light and dark bars of nearly equal width. Outer webs of primaries with nearly equal bands of whitish and dusky.

1. =S. asio.= Toes covered (more or less densely) with bristles, or hair-like feathers. Wing, 5.50–7.80; tail, 3.20–4.10; culmen, .50–.70; tarsus, 1.00–1.70; middle toe, .70–.80. Ear-tufts well developed; facial circle black.

Colors smoky-brown and pale fulvous, with little or none of pure white. Outer webs of the scapulars pale ochraceous-fulvous. Wing, 6.90–7.30; tail, 3.50–4.50. _Hab._ North Pacific region, from Western Idaho and Washington Territory, northward to Sitka …

var. _kennicotti_.

Colors ashy-gray and pure white, with little or none of fulvous. Outer webs of the scapulars pure white. Varying to bright brick-red, or lateritious-rufous.

Mottlings coarse, the blackish median streaks above not sharply defined, and the bars beneath heavy and distinct.

Wing, 6.10–7.75; tail, 3.30–4.35. In the red plumage, white prevailing on the lower parts, where the red markings are not broken into transverse bars. _Hab._ United States; except the Southern Middle Province, the northwest region, and Florida …

var. _asio_.

Wing, 5.50–6.00; tail, 2.75–3.10. In the red plumage, red prevailing on the lower parts, where the markings are much broken into transverse bars. _Hab._ Florida and Southern Georgia …

var. _floridanus_.

Wing, 5.50–5.80; tail, 3.20–3.30. Gray plumage, like var. _asio_, but the mottling above much coarser, and the nape with a strongly indicated collar of rounded white spots in pairs, on opposite webs. Red plumage not seen. _Hab._ Eastern Mexico and Guatemala …

var. _enano_.[25]

Mottlings fine, the blackish median streaks above very sharply defined and conspicuous; bars beneath delicate and indistinct.

Wing, 6.20–6.50; tail, 3.35–3.50. _Hab._ Southern Middle Province, and Southern California; Cape St. Lucas …

var. _maccalli_.

2. =S. flammeola.= Toes perfectly naked, the feathering of the tarsus terminating abruptly at the lower joint. Wing, 5.40; tail, 2.80; culmen, .35; tarsus, .90; middle toe, .55. Ear-tufts short, or rudimentary. Facial circle rusty. Outer webs of the scapulars rusty-ochraceous, in striking contrast to the grayish of the wings and back. Other markings and colors much as in _asio_. _Hab._ Mountain regions of Mexico and California, from Guatemala to Fort Crook, Northern California.

Scops asio, BONAP.

LITTLE RED OWL; MOTTLED OWL; “SCREECH-OWL.”

_Noctua aurita minor_, CATESBY, Carol. I, 1754, 7, pl. vii. _Asio scops carolinensis_, BRISS. Orn. I, 1760, 497. _Strix asio_, LINN. Syst. Nat. 1758, 92.—GMEL. S. N. 1789, 287.—LATH. Ind. Orn. 1790, 54.—IB. Syn. I, 123.—IB. Supp. I, 42; Gen. Hist. I, 314.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 1800, 216.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII, 1809, 229.—TEMM. Pl. Col. 80.—WILS. Am. Orn. 1808, pl. xlii, f. 1.—JARD. (ed. WILS.) Orn. I, 1831, 307.—BONAP. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, 36.—IB. Isis, 1832, 1139.—AUDUBON, Birds N. A. 1831, pl. xcvii.—IB. Orn. Biog. I, 486.—BREWER (ed. WILS.) Orn. 1852, p. 687.—HOBS. Nat. 1855, 169. _Bubo asio_, VIEILL. Ois. Am., Sept., 1807, 53, pl. xxi.—GIRAUD, Birds Long Island, 1844, 28.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 23. _Otus asio_, STEPHENS, Zoöl. XIII, pt. ii, 1815, 57. _Scops asio_, BONAP. List, 1838, 6.—LESS. Tr. Orn. 107.—CASS. Birds Cal. & Tex. 1854, 179.—IB. Birds N. Am. 1858, 51.—KAUP, Monog. Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, 112.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 199.—HEERM. P. R. Rept. II, 1855, 35.—COOP. & SUCKL. P. R. Rept. 155.—MAYNARD, Birds Eastern Mass., 1870, 131.—COUES, Key, 1872, 202.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 1869, 46. _Ephialtes asio_, GRAY, Gen. B. fol. 1844, sp. 9.—IB. List Birds Brit. Mus. 1844, p. 96.—WOODH. 1853, 62. _Strix nævia_, GMEL. S. N. 1789, 289.—LATH. Ind. Orn. 1790, p. 55.—IB. Syn. I, 126; Gen. Hist. I, 321.—DAUD. Tr. Orn. II, 1800, 217.—SHAW, Zoöl. VII, 1809, 230.—WILS. Am. Orn. 1808, pl. xix, f. 1. _Asio nævia_, LESS. Man. Orn. I, 1828, 117. _Otus nævius_, CUV. Reg. An. (ed. 2), I, 1829, 341. _Surnia nævia_, JAMES. (ed. WILS.), Orn., 1831, I, 96 & 99.

_a._ _Normal plumage._

SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Ground-color above brownish-cinereous, palest on the head, purest ashy on the wings, minutely mottled with fine zigzag transverse bars of black, each feather with a medial ragged stripe of the same along the shaft. Inner webs of ear-tufts, outer webs of scapulars, and oval spots occupying most of the outer webs of the two or three lower feathers of the middle and secondary wing-coverts, white, forming (except on the first) conspicuous spots, those of the scapulars bordered with black. Secondaries crossed with about seven regular paler bands, each enclosing a more irregular dusky one; the ground-color, however, is so mottled with grayish, and the pale bands with dusky, that they are by no means sharply defined or conspicuous, though they are very regular; alula and primary coverts more sharply barred with cream-colored spots, those on the former nearly white; primaries with broad quadrate spots of creamy-white on outer webs, these forming from seven (♂) to eight (♀) transverse bands, the last of which is not terminal. Tail more irregularly mottled than the wings, and crossed by seven (♂) to eight (♀) narrow, obsolete, but continuous, pale bands.

Eyebrows white, the feathers bordered with dusky (most broadly so in ♂); cheeks, ear-coverts, and lower throat dull white, with transverse bars of blackish (most numerous in the ♂); chin immaculate; upper eyelid dark brown; facial circle black; neck and jugulum like the cheeks, but more strongly barred, and with blackish along the shaft. Ground-color of the lower parts white, each feather with a medial stripe of black, this throwing off distinct bars to the edge of the feather; the medial black is largest on sides of the breast, where it expands into very large conspicuous spots, having a slight rusty exterior suffusion; the abdomen medially, the anal region, and the lower tail-coverts, are almost unvaried white. Tibiæ and tarsi in the male dull white, much barred transversely with blackish; in the female, pale ochraceous, more sparsely barred with dark brownish. Lining of the wing creamy-white, varied only along the edge; light bars on under surface of primaries very obsolete.

♂ (16,027, Fort Crook, North California; John Feilner). Wing, 6.70; tail, 3.80; culmen, .61; tarsus, 1.35; middle toe, .72; ear-tufts, 1.00; wing-formula, 3=4, 5–2, 6, 1=9. “Length, 9.50; extent, 23.75.”

♀ (18,299, Hellgate, Montana; Jno. Pearsall). Wing, 7.80; tail, 4.10; culmen, .70; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, .80; ear-tufts, 1.00.

_Young_ ♂ (No. 29,738, Wood’s Hole, Mass., July 25, 1863; S. F. Baird. “Parent gray”). Secondaries, primaries, and tail, as in the adult, gray plumage; but the latter more mottled, the bands confused. Rest of the plumage everywhere grayish-white, with numerous transverse bars of dusky-brown; eyebrows and lores scarcely variegated dull white; facial circle obsolete.

♀ (41,891, Philadelphia, Penn.; J. Krider). Whole head, neck, back, rump, and entire lower parts transversely barred with dark brown and grayish-white, the bands of the former on the upper parts rather exceeding the white in width, but on the lower surface much narrower; scapulars with large transverse spots of white on the outer webs. Wings and tail as in the adult. Facial disk conspicuous. (More advanced in age than the preceding.)

_b._ _Rufescent plumage._

_Adult._ General pattern of the preceding; but the grayish tints replaced by lateritious-rufous, very fine and bright, with a slight vinaceous cast: this is uniform, and shows no trace of the transverse dark mottling; there are, however, black shaft-lines to the feathers (these most conspicuous on the head above, and scapulars, and narrower and more sharply defined than in the gray plumage). The inner webs of the ear-tufts, outer webs of scapulars, and lower secondary and middle wing-coverts, are white, as in the gray plumage; those of the scapulars are also bordered with black. The secondaries, primaries, and tail are less bright rufous than the other portions, the markings as in the gray plumage, only the tints being different. The upper eyelid, and, in fact, all round the eye, fine light rufous; cheeks and ear-coverts paler, scarcely variegated; black facial circle rather narrower than in the gray plumage. Lower parts without the transverse bars of the gray plumage, but in their place an irregular clouding of fine light red, like the back; the lower parts medially (very broadly) immaculate snowy-white; most of the feathers having the red spotting show black shaft-stripes, but the pectoral spots are not near so large or conspicuous as in the gray bird. Tibiæ fine pale ochraceous-rufous; tarsi the same posteriorly, in front white with cuneate specks of rufous; lower tail-coverts each with a medial transversely cordate spot of dilute rufous, the shaft black. Lining of the wing with numerous rufous spots.

♂ (12,045, Washington, D. C., January). Wing, 6.30; tail, 3.00.

♀ (22,512, Maryland; R. G. Campbell). Wing, 6.70; tail, 3.50.

_Young_ (29,792, Peoria, Illinois; Ferd. Bischoff). Wings and tail as in adult; markings on head and body as in the young gray bird, but white bars more reddish, and dark ones more brown.

HAB. Temperate North America, from the South Atlantic States to Oregon, and from the northern United States to Texas. Replaced in the southern Middle Province and Southern California by var. _maccalli_, in Florida by var. _floridana_, and on the northwestern coast region by var. _kennicotti_.

Localities: (?) Cuba (CABANIS, Journ. III, 465).

The above stages of plumage have caused ornithologists a great deal of perplexity; and it is only very recently that they have become correctly understood. Even yet many persist in regarding the red plumage as being that of the young bird.

That these two very different plumages are entirely independent of age, sex, or season, and that they are purely individual, there can be no doubt; since in one nest there may often be found both red and gray young ones, while their parents may be either both red or both gray, the male red and the female gray, or _vice versa_. Occasionally specimens (such as No. 39,093, ♂, Neosho Falls, Kansas, April 13; parent of five eggs, and captured on the nest with a gray male) are exactly intermediate between these two plumages, it being difficult to decide which predominates; the combination is not only of the tints, but of the markings, of the two stages.

HABITS. The habit of all the varieties of _Scops asio_ in their different localities will be found after their zoölogical description.

Scops asio, var. floridana, RIDGWAY.

_Scops asio_, ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl. and other citations from Florida.

CHAR. Similar to var. _asio_, but much smaller, and the colors deeper. The gray stage very similar to that of var. _asio_, but the red phase very appreciably different, in there being a greater amount of rufous on the lower parts, the breast being nearly uniformly colored, and the rufous broken elsewhere into transverse broad bars, connected along the shaft. Wing, 5.50–6.00; tail, 2.75–3.10.

HAB. Florida and Lower Georgia.

This extreme southern form is much smaller than the more northern ones, being about the same in size as the var. _enano_ (see p. 1374) of Middle America, and the _S. atricapilla_, Temm., of Tropical America generally. The colors, as may be expected, are also darker and richer.

In the collection of the Smithsonian Institution there are both red and gray birds from Florida; a red one (No. 5,857, Indian River; Dr. A. W. Wall) measures, wing, 5.50; tail, 2.70; culmen, .55; tarsus, 1.05; middle toe, .65; ear-tufts, .70. The colors are much darker than those of typical _asio_. The rufous of the neck, all around, shows obsolete darker transverse bars; the black border to the white scapular spots is restricted to the tip, as in the gray plumage; the inner webs of the ear-tufts are scarcely paler than the outer; the neck and face are deeper rufous, while the rufous of the lower parts is more general, and more in transverse rays; tibiæ and tarsi plain rufous; the middle of the abdomen and the anal region only are pure white.

Scops asio, var. maccalli, CASS.

WESTERN MOTTLED OWL.