Part 51

This bird was undoubtedly meant by Linnæus in his description of Strix ulula. The name applied to it by various authors, Strix funerea, is properly applicable to the European species, to which Gmelin gave the name Strix Tengmalmi.

The descriptions now given embrace all the species of Owls the existence of which in America north of Mexico is satisfactorily demonstrated; though in the succeeding pages various others will be enumerated as obscure or little known.

All the species enumerated in the preceding synopsis, except Nyctale albifrons, are known to be of common occurrence in some part of that portion of this continent included in our limits; and specimens of a majority of them can be obtained generally in the course of a single winter in the markets of either of the larger cities, being brought for sale from the country, as is the case with the Falcons, and also all the larger and most common wading and swimming birds. The study of the habits of Owls is, however, attended with peculiar difficulties, on account of their nocturnal habits; and it is not therefore remarkable that questions respecting common species are yet to be regarded as unsettled. The identity, for instance, of Scops asio and Scops nævia, is by no means universally admitted; nor, if identical, is the change in the colors of their plumage sufficiently well understood. Gentlemen well acquainted with American ornithology, and in whose opinions we have the highest confidence (as, for instance, Thomas B. Wilson, M. D., and Samuel W. Woodhouse, M. D., of Philadelphia), are strongly disposed to doubt that they are identical.

Specimens of Owls to be met with in North American collections are very generally in winter plumage; and the procuring of several of the species in the spring or during the summer, is comparatively of unusual occurrence. The fully ascertaining of the seasonal changes in any species is yet desirable, even if only confirming previously known facts, or the statements of authors. It is possible that Nyctale albifrons is the adult of Nyctale acadica. This we give as an example illustrative of the importance of further observations, and may be allowed to add that, of several American species nearly related to others of Europe and Asia, the comparison of specimens of similar ages and in similar seasonal plumage, is only satisfactory and reliable.

In Western North America, it is exceedingly probable that species of this family exist which are yet unknown to naturalists. In Texas, species known as inhabitants of Mexico may yet be detected.

All the Owls found in the northern portion of the United States, are in some measure migratory, and some species appear to travel in large bands, scattered over a considerable extent of country. The Snowy Owl is sometimes abundant for a few days, and then will suddenly disappear from a district, perhaps soon to appear again. The Marsh Owl appears along the river Delaware occasionally in considerable numbers, and staying but a short time, or leaving apparently only a few stragglers. We once saw what was very nearly a flock of this species, on a shooting excursion in “the Neck,” as it is called, or the point of land below Philadelphia, formed by the junction of the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, the larger portion of which is wholly devoted to the cultivation of culinary vegetables for the market of the city. On getting over the fence into a small field, in which a crop of cabbages had been raised, the smaller heads of many of which remained, we were surprised to see a large number of stalks ornamentally surmounted by Owls. They soon, however, dispersed in all directions.

The Barn Owl (Strix pratincola), as well as the Marsh Owl (Otus brachyotus), we have known to occur in open fields, where but little concealment was possible.

The Red or Mottled Owl is very persistent in its locality, and the same pair probably returns to the woods that it has previously occupied in preceding seasons, in some measure disregarding encroachments on its extent. In a small tract of timbered land at Powelton, the hospitable residence of John Hare Powel, Esq., surrounded by villages constituting a portion of the suburbs of Philadelphia, a pair of this species continued to appear and to raise broods of young until within a period of only two or three years past, notwithstanding constantly occurring chances of molestation.

An interesting fact relating to the species just mentioned (Scops asio), has recently been communicated to us by our esteemed friend, Mr. William Kite, of Chester county, Pennsylvania, a careful observer, much attached to the pursuit of natural history. He made the singular discovery that in this species the early ceremonies in the association of a pair about to assume the duties of incubation were for the greater part performed on the ground, and were accompanied invariably by unusual and continued cries, thus illustrating in a striking manner the strong analogy of these birds to the cat-like quadrupeds. This remarkable circumstance we regard as new in the history of this family of birds, and the observation of other species would be in a high degree interesting.

Further investigations and collections in this family are particularly desirable in the western and northwestern regions of North America, and will very probably result in the discovery of species not now known to naturalists.

Doubtful and obscure species which have been described as inhabiting America north of Mexico:—

1. Strix wapacuthu. Gm., Syst. Nat. I., p. 291. (1788.) Pennant, Arctic Zoology I., p. 268. Rich. and Sw. Fauna Boreali Americana, Birds, p. 86, 99.

“The Spotted Owl (Wapacuthu) weighs five pounds, and is two feet long and four broad; the irides bright yellow; bill and talons shining black, and much curved, the former covered with bristly hairs projecting from the base; space between the eyes, the cheeks, and throat, white; on the top of the head, and on each side of the concha, the extreme parts of the feathers are dusky black; concha dirty white; scapularies, with the lesser and greater coverts of the wings, white, elegantly barred with reddish dusky spots pointing downwards; the quill feathers and tail are irregularly barred and spotted with pale red and black; back and coverts of the tail white, with a few dusky spots; under coverts and vent feathers white; the breast and belly dusky white, crossed with an infinite number of narrow reddish bars; the legs are feathered to the toes; the latter covered with hairs like those of the bill, but not so strong.

“This bird is an inhabitant of the woods, makes a nest in the moss on dry ground, lays from five to ten white eggs in May, and the young fly in June, and are entirely white for some time after. They feed on mice and small birds, which they generally kill themselves. Hutchins’ MSS., p. 99.” Fauna. Bor. Am., Birds, p. 99.

This species, if distinct from the Snowy Owl, is absolutely unknown to naturalists, never having been noticed by any traveller since Mr. Hutchins. Though, from the description above quoted, apparently a peculiar species, the same name is given by the natives in the vicinity of Hudson’s Bay, to the Snowy Owl, according to Mr. Hearne (Journey to the Northern Ocean, p. 402. London, 1795, quarto); and it, too, makes its nest on the ground. With so little positive information, it is impossible to form more than conjectures respecting the bird alluded to in the description, and it must be left as an interesting matter of inquiry for future explorers and naturalists.

It may be observed with reference to Mr. Hearne’s statement, that if the bird he alluded to was really an Owl, it differs from any other American species in laying from “five to ten eggs.” Careful and evidently accurate statements respecting the incubation of nearly all the northern species, are given by Dr. Hall, in his “Sketch of the Zoology of the District of Montreal” (manuscript in our possession); and no species is represented as producing more than “four to five eggs,” except the Mottled Owl (Scops nævia), which lays “five to six.” The Snowy Owl, it is stated by Dr. Hall, lays “two white eggs.”

2. Otus mexicanus. (Gm.) Strix mexicana. Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I., p. 288. (1766.) Bubo clamator. Vieill., Ois d’Am., Sept. I., p. 52, pl. 20. (1807.) Strix longirostris. Spix Av. Bras. 1., p. 20, pl. 9 a. (1824.)

This Owl, which is a rather common South American species, is stated by Vieillot to inhabit America from Cayenne to Hudson’s Bay. His remarks apply, however, to the Scops asio in mottled plumage; though a good plate is given by him of the bird, of which the name is above cited, no specimen of which has ever come under our notice, captured in any part of the United States.

3. Strix Georgica. Lath., Gen. Syn. Supp., p. 15. (1801.)

“Size of the Barn Owl; length sixteen inches and a half; bill yellow; the plumage on the upper parts of the bird is brown, banded with yellowish; throat and breast pale brown, crossed with whitish bands; belly yellowish white, marked with longish red brown streaks; thighs and legs woolly, whitish or very pale in color, varied with small blackish spots; quills and tail feathers brown, crossed with four or five white bands.

“I met with this specimen in the collection of Mr. Humphries, said to have come from several miles within South Georgia, in America.” (Latham, General Synopsis of Birds, Supplement II., p. 64.)

This bird is placed by Latham, in his division of Owls, “with smooth heads,” and probably refers to the Short-eared Owl (Otus brachyotus). The description is not, however, entirely applicable. This name may, however, be entitled to precedence as the proper name of that species in the genus Brachyotus; and, as an aspirant to such honors, we recommend it to the favorable notice of enterprising ornithologists; and also, while our hand is in, respectfully suggest that as a name for the allied European species, arctica, Sparrmann, which dates 1789 (Mus. Carls., pl. 51), might do as well as palustris, and have the advantage of more mature age.

4. Strix forficata. Aud., Orn. Biog. V., p. 334. (1839.)

“I shot this bird in the vicinity of Green Bay, when on my way across to the Mississippi; but the drawing which I made of it on the spot has been lost. It was about the size of Strix acadica, of a dark grey color, with the tail long and deeply forked; but I am unable to describe it more particularly, the Journal in which it was noticed having been, along with others, destroyed by the great fire which happened in New York some years ago.” (Audubon, as above.)

The bird here alluded to has never again been observed so far as we have learned. The description probably applies to an unknown species, and certainly to one not known as an inhabitant of the United States.

5. “Strix passerina. Gmel.” Aud., Orn. Biog. V., p. 269. (1839.)

Aud., B. of Am., pl. 432, fig. 3; Oct. ed. I., pl. 29.

“Bill greyish, its ridge and tip greyish yellow; iris dark; claws brownish black, lighter at the base; the general color of the upper parts is chocolate brown; the feathers of the head have an oblong white median mark, and, as they are small, this part is marked with numerous spots; on the hind neck the white spots are very large, forming a conspicuous patch; on the back most of the feathers have a single large subterminal roundish spot, which is also the case with the scapulars and wing coverts, some of which, however, have two or more spots; all the quills have marginal reddish-white spots on both webs, the third quill with six on the outer and four on the inner, with two very faint pale bars toward the end; the tail is similarly marked with four bands of transversely-oblong reddish-white spots; on the anterior part of the disc, the feathers are whitish, with black shafts, on the lower part whitish, on the hind part brown, tipped with greyish-white; a broad band of white crosses the throat and curves upward on either side to the ear; there is also a patch of white on the lower part of the fore-neck, and between them is a brownish-grey band; the general colour of the lower parts is dull yellowish-white, each feather with a broad longitudinal band of chocolate-brown; the abdomen and lower tail coverts unspotted; the tarsal feathers dull white.”