12053 ½
Nyctale acadica.
Of this genus only three species are as yet known; two of these belong to the Northern Hemisphere, one of them (N. tengmalmi) being circumpolar, the other (N. acadica) peculiar to North America. The habitat of the remaining species (N. harrisi) is unknown, but is supposed to be South America. If it be really from that portion of the New World, it was probably obtained in a mountainous region.
Species and Races.
Common Characters. Above umber, or chocolate, brown, spotted with white (more or less uniform in the young); beneath white with longitudinal stripes of reddish-brown (adult), or ochraceous without markings (young).
A. Nostril sunken, elongate-oval, obliquely vertical, opening laterally; cere not inflated. Tail considerably more than half the wing. Bill yellow.
1. N. tengmalmi. Wing, 7.20; tail, 4.50; culmen, .60; tarsus, 1.00; middle toe, .67 (average).
Legs white, almost, or quite, unspotted; lower tail-coverts with narrow shaft-streaks of brown. (Light tints generally predominating.) Hab. Northern portions of Palæarctic Realm … var. tengmalmi.[23]
Legs ochraceous, thickly spotted with brown; lower tail-coverts with broad medial stripes of brown. (Dark tints generally predominating.) Hab. Northern portions of Nearctic Realm … var. richardsoni.