[18.] 1. Strix otus. . (Linn.) Long-eared Owl.
'.Ge n u s . . Strix. L in n . Sub-genus. Asio. A n t iq .
Long-eared Owl. P e n n . Arct. Zool., ii, p. 229, sp. 115.
Strix otus. L a th . Ind., i., p. 58.
Long-eared Owl.. (Strix otus.) W il s o n . Or»., vi., p. 73, pi. 51, f. 3.
Strix otus. T em m ., i., p. 102. Se l b y . Brit. Om., 8vo., p. 52. B on ap. Sgn., p. 37, No, 28.
Cu v ie r , Reg. An., Second edit., i., p. 341.
Ammisk-oho. (Beaver-Owl.) Cr e e I n d ia n s .
This bird, which is an inhabitant of both hemispheres, has been found in America
as far north as latitude 60°, and probably exists as high as the forests extend.
It is plentiful in the woods skirting the plains of the Saskatchewan, frequents the
coast of Hudson’s Bay only in the summer, and retires into the interior in the
winter. It resides all the year in the United States, and perhaps is not a rare
bird in any part of North America; but, as it comes seldom abroad in the day,
fewer specimens are obtained of it than of the other Owls. It preys chiefly on
quadrupeds of the genus armcola, and in summer destroys many beetles. It lays
three or four roundish white eggs, sometimes on the ground, at other times in the
deserted nests of other birds in low bushes. Mr. Hutchins says it lays in April,
and that the young fly in May. The Indians brought me a specimen, killed at
the nest, which was in a bush, and contained one egg, in May; and Mr. Drummond
found a nest on the ground, in the same neighbourhood, containing three
eggs, on the 5th of July, and killed both the birds. Wilson says that the young
are greyish-white until nearly full grown, and roost during the day close together
on the limb of a tree, amid the thickest of the foliage. On comparing the above-
mentioned eggs with those of the English Long-eared Owl, the American ones
proved to be smaller, measuring only an inch and a half in length and 1*27 inch,
in breadth; while the English ones measured 1*8 inch, in length, and 1*54 in
breadth. The form and colour were the same in both.
description
Of a malet killed at Carlton House, 5th July, 1827*
Colour.—Bill and chittwbluish-black. Irides reddish-orange. The wiry feathers at the base
of the bill, forming part of the facial circle, are greyish-white, with black shafts and tips; the posterior
broader half of the circle covering the operculum of the concha is dull yellowish-brown,
margined or hounded posteriorly with blackish-brown : the interior of the circle, forming the
immediate; borderof the orbit, is', blackish. The belt of velvety feathers on. the posterior border
of the concha,, and which meets with its- fellow on the throat,, is dark umber-brown, finely
mottled with white. The egrets are liver-brown, the interior margins of the feathers mottled
with white. On the dorsal aspect the ground colour is dark liver-brown ; which on the
forehead and crown is finely speckled with whiteon the neck the dark-brown occupies the
centre of each feather, and the margins are pale yellowish-brown, with indented white spots,
that are finely dbtted with dark-brown. The back, scapularies, tertiaries, and greater part
of the lesser wing coverts, have the brown ground crossed by bars of white, which again
include indented bars of brown, the resulting general effect being a fine mottling. A band
passes along the upper margin of the wing, on which there are no white spots ; but the dark-
brown is. sparingly dotted with yellowish-brown. The quill feathers are liver-brown, crossed
by seven bands of yellowish-brown, more or less mottled with white. The tail is crossed by
about eight pale yellowish-brown or whitish bars, finely mixed with dark-brown, and alternating
with as many liver-brown bars.
' Under surface.—On the neck and breast the feathers are liver-brown in their centres and
white or yellowish-brown On their margins, producing an assemblage of large spots. On the
belly they are white, crossed by narrow distinct liver-brown bars. The plumage of the
whole ventral aspect, as well as of the dorsal, is yellowish-brown at the base, which partially
shows. The linings of the wings are white, tinged with yellowish-brown and marked with
some dark-brown blotches. The insides of the primaries-are clove-brown, with large buff-
coloured bases and blotches opposite to the pale bars on the exterior surfaces. The under
surface of the tail is buff-coloured towards the base and greyish towards the point, and is
crossed by eight or nine narrow brown bars. The long outer thigh feathers are deep yellowish-
brown, with a few liver-brown bars on their tips. The*legs and feet are unspotted yellowishbroFwn.
, orm, &c.—The hill, having a flat elliptical curvature, is covered with cere on the ridge
about half its length. IV osfrifs oval,oblique. Facial drcle moderately large. Concha extending
from above the posterior angle of the orbit to behind the limb of the lower jaw, being about an
inch and a quarter long, with a moderately broad operculum of corresponding length. Egrets
an inch and a half long, very conspicuous, composed of six or more feathers. Folded wings
very little shorter than the tail. The second quill'feather is the longest, the third is scarcely
shorter; the first rather exceeds the fourth, and both are an inch shorter than the second;
the remaining ones diminish each in succession from three-quarters to half an inch. The
inner web of the first primary is strongly sinuated near the point, and the outer web ,of the
second is more obliquely narrowed higher up. The outer web of the first and that of the
second below the sinuation have the points of the barbs strongly reverted : this is not the case
with the third, as it is in Strix Virginiana. Tail very slightly rounded, the outer feathers being
only a quarter of an inch shorter than the central ones. Tarsi closely covered with moderately
long feathers; and the upper surface of the toes clothed by shorter feathers, which do
L