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.