HAWK OWL.
Strix funerea, Linn.
PLATE CCCLXXVIII. Male and Female.
It is always disagreeable to an author to come forward when he has little of importance to communicate to the reader, and on no occasion have I felt more keenly than on the present, when introducing to your notice an Owl, of which the habits, although unknown to me, must be highly interesting, as it seems to assimilate in some degree to the diurnal birds of prey. I have never seen it alive, and therefore can only repeat what has been said by one who has. Dr Richardson gives the following account of it in the Fauna Boreali-Americana:—
“It is a common species throughout the Fur Countries from Hudson’s Bay to the Pacific, and is more frequently killed than any other by the hunters, which may be partly attributed to its boldness and its habit of flying about by day. In the summer season it feeds principally on mice and insects; but in the snow-clad regions which it frequents in the winter, neither of these are to be procured, and it then preys mostly on Ptarmigan. It is a constant attendant on the flocks of Ptarmigan in their spring migrations to the northward. It builds its nest on a tree, of sticks, grass, and feathers, and lays two white eggs. When the hunters are shooting Grouse, this bird is occasionally attracted by the report of the gun, and is often bold enough, on a bird being killed, to pounce down upon it, though it may be unable from its size to carry it off. It is also known to hover round the fires made by the natives at night.”
I lately received a letter from my friend Dr Thomas M. Brewer of Boston, Massachusetts, in which he informs me that “the Hawk Owl is very common at Memphramagog Lake in Vermont, where as many as a dozen may be obtained by a good gunner in the course of a single day. Its nests in the hollow trees are also frequently met with.” It is surprising that none should have been seen by Mr Nuttall or Dr Townsend, while crossing the Rocky Mountains, or on the Columbia River; especially as it has been found by my friend Edward Harris, Esq. as far southward on our eastern coast as New Jersey.
The specimens from which the figures in the plate were drawn, were given to me by Thomas Macculloch, Esq. of Pictou, who had a good number of them. Two entire individuals preserved in spirits afford materials for the following descriptions.
Strix funerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 133.—Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 62.—Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 35.
Hawk Owl, Strix hudsonia, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p. 64, pl. 50, fig. 6.
Strix funerea, American Hawk Owl, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 92.
Hawk Owl, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 115.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXVIII. Fig. 1.
Bill short, strong, higher than broad; upper mandible with the dorsal line declinate and decurvate, the ridge convex, the sides convex toward the end, the edges nearly straight until toward the end, the tip decurvate, trigonal, acute; the cere covered with stiff bristly feathers directed forwards; lower mandible with the angle very wide, the dorsal outline convex, the ridge broad and convex, the sides convex, the edges sharp toward the end, the tip obtuse, thin-edged. Nostrils roundish, in the fore part of the cere, concealed by the feathers.
Head very large, roundish, convex above. Eyes very large. Neck very short; body of moderate size. Legs very short, robust; tarsus very short, feathered, as are the toes, of which the outer is reversible; claws long, stout, compressed, tapering to a very acute point, that of third toe with the inner edge considerably dilated.
Plumage full, very soft, blended; the cere covered with slender stiffish reversed feathers, having their filaments disunited; the facial disks incomplete above. Wings rather long, rounded; the third primary longest, the fourth one-twelfth and a half shorter, the second four and a half twelfths shorter than the third, the first intermediate between the fifth and sixth; the first four cut out on the outer web towards the end, the barbs on the greater part of the outer web of the first, and the terminal portion of the second, thickened, and a little separated, but not recurved; the secondaries of moderate length, rounded. Tail rather long, much rounded, of twelve rather broad rounded feathers, of which the lateral are two inches shorter than the middle.
Bill pale yellow; iris bright yellow; claws dusky. The facial disk is greyish-white, the shafts black, at its anterior part intermixed with black filaments. The upper part of the head brownish-black, closely spotted with white, there being generally three roundish spots on each feather. The hind part of the neck is brownish-black, with two broad longitudinal bands of white spots; a semicircle of brownish-black feathers margins the facial disk behind. The general colour of the upper parts is chocolate-brown, becoming lighter behind; all the feathers marked with white spots in pairs, larger and more conspicuous on the scapulars, disposed in bars on the rump and upper tail-coverts. On both webs of the quills are several transversely elliptical white spots, the outer webs of the first two and five inner primaries excepted; the tips of all brownish-white. The tail is marked with about eight transverse bars of white, formed by narrow oblong alternating spots on both webs, the feathers also tipped with white, the throat is greyish-dusky, that colour being succeeded by a semi-circular band of white, beneath which is an obscure brownish-black band; the rest of the lower parts transversely barred with dusky and white; the dark bars of a deeper tint anteriorly, approaching to chestnut on the sides and legs, fainter on the abdomen and feet, and greyish-brown on the lower tail-coverts.
Length to end of tail 15 3/4 inches, to end of wings 12 1/2, to end of claws 11 1/2, to carpal joint 3 3/8; extent of wings 31 1/2; wing from flexure 9 8/12; tail 7 1/2; bill along the ridge 1 2/12, along the edge of lower mandible 1; tarsus 1; hind toe 3/12, its claw 10 1/2/12; middle toe 10/12, its claw 10/12; inner toe 8 1/2/12, its claw 11/12; outer toe 6/12, its claw 10/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXVIII. Fig. 2.
The Female is somewhat larger, and resembles the male, but is of a lighter tint, especially on the wings and tail, where the white markings are smaller and less decided.
Length to end of tail 17 1/2 inches.
An adult male, presented by Thomas M. Brewer, Esq. of Boston, and preserved in spirits.
Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
The palate is concave, with two longitudinal, parallel, papillate ridges. The posterior aperture of the nares is lanceolate, with an anterior fissure, the space between which and the lateral ridge is papillate. The tongue is short, fleshy, deeply emarginate and papillate at the base, rounded and notched at the end; its length 7 1/2 twelfths, its breadth 3 1/4 twelfths. The mouth is very wide, measuring 1 inch 1 twelfth across. The œsophagus, a b c, which is 4 3/4 inches in length, is of nearly uniform diameter, its greatest breadth being 11 twelfths, and at its entrance into the thorax 10 twelfths. Its walls are extremely thin; but its longitudinal and transverse muscular fibres are distinctly seen. The proventricular glandules are very large and cylindrical, forming a belt, b c, 1 inch 1 twelfth in breadth. The stomach, c d e, is of moderate size, roundish, 1 inch 5 twelfths long, 1 inch 1 1/2 twelfth broad; its walls very thin, the muscular coat being composed of slender fasciculi converging toward two roundish tendinous spaces; the inner coat or epithelium very soft and rugous, but partially dissolved by the gastric juice. The pylorus has a semilunar margin, but is otherwise destitute of valve. The contents of the stomach are tufts of reddish hair, resembling that of some hare. The duodenum, e f g, which is 3 1/2 twelfths in diameter, curves backwards and upwards, running across to the left side, and returning upon itself opposite the fifth rib; it then proceeds to the right side under the liver, receives the biliary ducts, passes behind and above the stomach, and forms three folds, terminating in the rectum, which is laterally curved, and ends in a globular cloaca, j k, 10 twelfths in diameter. The entire length of the intestine, e f g h k, is 18 inches, its diameter from 4 twelfths to 1 1/2 twelfth. The rectum is 2 inches long. The cœca, Fig. 2, a b, a b, are 2 1/4 inches in length, for 1 inch and 2 twelfths very narrow, their diameter varying from 1 to 2 twelfths, their greatest diameter 4 twelfths, their extremity blunt.
Fig. 3.
The aperture of the ear, Fig. 3, although very large, is inferior to that of many Owls of similar size. It is of an elliptical form, 5 twelfths in its greatest diameter, and 4 twelfths across.
The trachea is 3 inches long, flattened, its diameter nearly uniform, averaging 2 twelfths; the rings moderately firm, 74 in number. The bronchi are long, slender, of about 20 very slender cartilaginous half rings. The contractor muscles are moderate, as are the sterno-tracheal. There is a single pair of flat inferior laryngeal muscles, going to the first and second bronchial rings.