somewhat conical, compressed, rounded at the tip. Upper mandible with
the dorsal line sloping, the ridge broad and flattened at the base,
narrowed towards the unguis, which is roundish and very convex, the
edges beset with compressed, hard teeth-like lamellæ, their outline
ascending and slightly arched; lower mandible ascending, nearly
straight, the angle long and of moderate length, the dorsal line beyond
it convex, the sides erect, and beset with lamellæ; similar to those
of the upper, but more numerous, the unguis obovate and very convex.
Nasal groove oblong, parallel to the ridge, filled by the soft membrane
of the bill; nostrils medial, lateral, longitudinal, narrow-elliptical,
open, pervious.
Head of moderate size, oblong, compressed. Neck rather long and
slender. Body full, slightly depressed. Feet rather short, strong,
placed about the centre of the body; legs bare a little above the
joint; tarsus rather short, strong, a little compressed, covered all
round with hexagonal, reticulated scales, which are smaller behind;
hind toe very small, with a narrow membrane; third toe longest,
fourth considerably shorter, but longer than the second; all the toes
reticulated above at the base, but with narrow transverse scutella
towards the end; the three anterior connected by a reticulated
membrane, the outer having a thick margin, the inner with the margin
extended into a two-lobed web. Claws small, arched, rather compressed,
obtuse, that of the middle toe bent obliquely outwards, and depressed,
with a curved edge.
Plumage close, full, compact above, blended beneath, as well as on the
head and neck, on the latter of which it is disposed in longitudinal
bands, separated by narrow grooves; the feathers of the lateral parts
small and narrow, of the back ovato-oblong, and abruptly rounded, of
the lower parts curved and oblong. Wings rather long, broad; primaries
strong, incurved, broad, towards the end tapering, the second longest,
but only a quarter of an inch longer than the first, which scarcely
exceeds the third; the first and second sinuate on the inner web, the
second and third on the outer. Secondaries long, very broad, rounded,
the inner curved outwards. Tail very short, rounded, of sixteen broad
rounded feathers.
Bill carmine-red, the unguis of both mandibles white, their edges
black. Iris light brown. Feet dull lake, claws brownish-black. The
general colour of the plumage is pure white; the fore part of the head
tinged with yellowish-red; the primaries brownish-grey, towards the end
blackish-brown, their shafts white unless toward the end.
Length to end of tail 31-3/4 inches, to end of claws 33-1/2, to end
of wings 31-3/4, to carpus 14; extent of wings 62; wing from flexure
19-1/2; tail 6-1/4; bill along the ridge 2-5/8, along the edge of lower
mandible 3-1/4; bare part of tibia 3/4; tarsus 3-5/8; hind toe 1/2, its
claw (4-1/2)/12; middle toe 3, its claw 4/12. Weight 6-3/4 lb.
Young Female, in first winter. Plate CCCLXXXI. Fig. 2.
The colours of the young bird, in its first plumage, are unknown; but
in its second plumage, in autumn and winter, it presents the appearance
exhibited in the plate. The bill is pale flesh-colour, its edges black,
and the unguis bluish-white; the feet flesh-colour, the claws dusky.
The head and upper part of the neck are white, tinged above with grey,
the lower part of the neck all round, the fore part of the back, the
scapulars, the fore part of the breast, and the sides, blackish-grey;
paler beneath. The hind part of the back and the upper tail-coverts,
are ash-grey; as are the wing-coverts; but the secondary coverts are
greyish-black in the middle; and all the quills are of that colour, the
secondaries margined with greyish-white; the tail-feathers dusky-grey,
broadly margined with greyish-white. The dark colour of the fore part
of the breast gradually fades into greyish-white, which is the colour
of the other inferior parts, excepting the axillar feathers, and some
of the lower wing-coverts, which are white.
Length of an individual in this plumage, kept four years, to end of
tail 26 inches, to end of claws 25; extent of wings 55; bill along the
ridge 2-1/4, from frontal angle 2-1/2; tarsus 2-(7-1/2)/12; hind toe
6/12, its claw (4-1/2)/12; middle toe 2-1/4, its claw 4/12. Weight 2
lb. 13 oz. The bird very poor.
In an adult male preserved in spirits, the roof of the mouth is
moderately concave, with five series of strong conical papillæ directed
backwards. The posterior aperture of the nares is linear, margined with
two series of extremely slender papillæ. The marginal lamellæ of the
upper mandible are 25, of the lower about 45. The tongue is 2 inches 5
twelfths long, nearly cylindrical, with strong pointed papillæ at the
base, and on each side a series of flattened, sharp lamellæ, directed
backwards, together with very numerous bristle-like filaments. It is
fleshy, has a soft prominent pad at the base above, and towards the end
has a median groove, the point rounded thin, and horny. The œsophagus;
which is 17 inches long, has a diameter of 9 twelfths at the upper
part, and at the lower part of the neck is dilated to 1 inch. The
proventricular glands are cylindrical, simple, and arranged in a belt
nearly 1 inch in breadth. The other parts were removed.
The reddish tint on the head affords no indication of the age of the
bird, some individuals of all ages having that part pure white, while
others have it rusty. The same remark applies to our two Swans.
SHARP-TAILED GROUS.
_TETRAO PHASIANELLUS_, LINN.
PLATE CCCLXXXII. MALE AND FEMALE.
This is another species of our birds with the habits of which
I am entirely unacquainted. Dr RICHARDSON’s account of it is as
follows:—“The northern limits of the range of the Sharp-tailed Grous is
Great Slave Lake, in the sixty-first parallel; and its most southern
recorded station is in latitude 41°, on the Missouri. It abounds on
the outskirts of the Saskatchewan plains, and is found throughout
the woody districts of the Fur Countries, haunting open glades or low
thickets on the borders of lakes, particularly in the neighbourhood of
the trading paths, where the forests have been partially cleared. In
winter it perches generally on trees, in summer is much on the ground;
in both seasons assembling in coveys of from ten to sixteen. Early in
spring, a family of these birds select a level spot, whereon they meet
every morning, and run round in a circle of fifteen or twenty feet in
diameter, so that the grass is worn quite bare. When any one approaches
the circle, the birds squat close to the ground, but in a short time
stretch out their necks to survey the intruder; and, if they are not
scared by a nearer advance, soon resume their circular course, some
running to the right, others to the left, meeting and crossing each
other. These “Partridge dances” last for a month or more, or until
the hens begin to hatch. When the Sharp-tailed Grous are put up, they
rise with the usual whirring noise, and alight again at the distance
of a few hundred yards, either on the ground, or on the upper branches
of a tree. Before the cock quits his perch, he utters repeatedly
the cry of _cuck_, _cuck_, _cuck_. In winter they roost in the snow
like the Willow Grous, and they can make their way through the loose
wreaths with ease. They feed on the buds and sprouts of the _Betula
glandulosa_, of various willows, and of the aspen and larch; and in
autumn on berries. Mr HUTCHINS says that the hen lays thirteen white
eggs with coloured spots early in June; the nest being placed on the
ground and formed of grass, lined with feathers.”
Dr TOWNSEND informs me that while crossing the north branch of the
Platte (Lorimie’s Fork), he found this species breeding, and that as an
article of food it proved to be a very well-flavoured and plump bird,
considerably superior to any of the other larger species that occur in
the United States.
TETRAO PHASIANELLUS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p.
273.—_Lath._ Ind. Ornith. vol. ii. p. 635.—_Ch. Bonaparte_,
Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 127.
TETRAO PHASIANELLUS, SHARP-TAILED GROUS, _Ch. Bonaparte_,
Amer. Ornith. vol. iii. p. 37, pl. 19.
TETRAO (CENTROCERCUS) PHASIANELLUS, _Swains._ Sharp-tailed
Grous, _Richards._ and _Swains._ Fauna Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p.
361.
SHARP-TAILED GROUS, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. i. p. 669.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXII. Fig. 1.
Bill short, strong, as broad as high; upper mandible with the dorsal
line arcuato-declinate, the ridge narrow at the base on account of the
great extent of the nasal sinus, which is feathered, the sides convex
toward the end, the edges overlapping and thin, the tip declinate and
blunt, but thin-edged; lower mandible with the angle of moderate length
and width, the dorsal line ascending and convex, the edges sharp and
inclinate, the tip obtuse.
Head rather small, oblong; neck of moderate length; body full. Feet
rather short, stout; tarsus roundish, feathered, bare and reticulated
behind. Toes of moderate size, with numerous scutella above, but
covered over at the base by the hair-like feathers which grow from the
sides and the intervening basal membranes, laterally pectinate with
long slender projecting flattened scales; first toe small, second a
little longer than fourth, third much longer. Claws slender, arched,
moderately compressed, rather obtuse; that of the third toe with the
inner edge dilated.
Plumage dense, soft, rather compact, the feathers in general broadly
ovate; those on the head and upper part of the neck short, but some on
the upper and hind part of the former elongated and forming a slight
crest. There is a papillate coloured membrane over the eye, as in the
other species; and on each side of the neck is a large bare space,
concealed by the plumage, which I have no doubt is inflated, as in
_Tetrao Cupido_ and _T. Urophasianus_, during the love season. Wings
rather short, concave, much rounded; the primaries stiff and very
narrow, so as to leave large intervals when the wing is extended;
the third quill longest, the fourth next, the second shorter than the
fifth, the sixth longer than the first. Tail short, much graduated,
of sixteen feathers, of which the lateral are three inches shorter
than the central; all the feathers are more or less concave, excepting
the two middle worn along the inner edge, obliquely and abruptly
terminated, the two middle projecting an inch beyond the next.
Bill dusky above, brown beneath; iris light hazel; superciliary
membrane vermilion; toes brownish-grey, claws brownish-black. The upper
parts are variegated with light red or brownish-orange, brownish-black
and white; the black occupying the central part of the feathers,
the light red forming angular processes from the margin, generally
dotted with black, and a lighter bar near the end; the white being
in terminal, triangular, or guttiform spots on the scapulars and
wing-coverts. The alula, primary coverts, secondary coverts, and
quills are greyish-brown, the coverts spotted and tipped with white;
the primaries with white spots on the outer web, the inner tipped with
white, as are all the secondaries, of which the outer have two bars
of white spots, and the inner are coloured like the back. The tail is
white, at the base variegated, and the two middle feathers like the
back. Loral space, and a line behind the eye, white; a dusky streak
beneath the eye, succeeded by a light coloured one. The throat is
reddish-white, with some dusky spots; the fore part and sides of the
neck barred with dusky and reddish-white: on the lower part of the neck
and fore part of the breast, the dusky bars become first curved, and
then arrow-shaped, and so continue narrowing on the hind part of the
breast, and part of the sides, of which the upper portion is barred;
the abdomen, lower tail-coverts, axillar feathers, and most of the
lower wing-coverts, white. The hair-like feathers of the tarsi are
light brownish-grey, faintly barred with greyish-white.
Length to end of tail 17-1/2 inches, to end of wings 14, to end of
claws 17; extent of wings 23; wing from flexure 8-1/4, tail 4-1/2;
bill along the ridge (10-1/2)/12, along the edge of lower mandible
1-(1-1/2)/12; tarsus 1-(7-1/2)/12; hind toe 6/12, its claw 6/12: middle
toe 1-(7-1/2)/12, its claw 7/12.
Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXXII. Fig. 2.
The Female is considerably smaller, but is coloured like the male, the
tints being duller.
LONG-EARED OWL.
_STRIX OTUS_, LINN.
PLATE CCCLXXXIII. MALE.
This Owl is much more abundant in our Middle and Eastern Atlantic
Districts than in the Southern or Western parts. My friend Dr BACHMAN
has never observed it in South Carolina; nor have I met with it in
Louisiana, or any where on the Mississippi below the junction of the
Ohio. It is not very rare in the upper parts of Indiana, Illinois,
Ohio, and Kentucky, wherever the country is well wooded. In the Barrens
of Kentucky its predilection for woods is rendered apparent by its
not being found elsewhere than in the “Groves;” and it would seem that
it very rarely extends its search for food beyond the skirts of those
delightful retreats. In Pennsylvania, and elsewhere to the eastward, I
have found it most numerous on or near the banks of our numerous clear
mountain streams, where, during the day, it is not uncommon to see it
perched on the top of a low bush or fir. At such times it stands with
the body erect, but the tarsi bent and resting on a branch, as is the
manner of almost all our Owls. The head then seems the largest part,
the body being much more slender than it is usually represented. Now
and then it raises itself and stands with its legs and neck extended,
as if the better to mark the approach of an intruder. Its eyes, which
were closed when it was first observed, are opened on the least noise,
and it seems to squint at you in a most grotesque manner, although it
is not difficult to approach very near it. It rarely on such occasions
takes to wing, but throws itself into the thicket, and makes off on
foot by means of pretty long leaps.
I have never seen this bird moving on wing to a sufficient distance to
enable me to speak with certainty of its mode of flight, especially as
it is one of our most nocturnal species, seldom beginning to seek for
prey before it is quite dusky. In the morning I have never seen one
abroad at however early an hour I have been on the look-out.
The Long-eared Owl is careless as to the situation in which its young
are to be reared, and generally accommodates itself with an abandoned
nest of some other bird that proves of sufficient size, whether it
be high or low, in the fissure of a rock or on the ground. Sometimes
however it makes a nest itself, and this I found to be the case in
one instance near the Juniatta River in Pennsylvania, where it was
composed of green twigs with the leaflets adhering, and lined with
fresh grass and sheep wool, but without feathers. The eggs are usually
four, nearly equally rounded at both ends, thin-shelled, smooth, when
newly deposited pure white, with a slight blush, which is no longer
observable when they have been for some time sitten upon, their
average length an inch and a half, their greatest breadth an inch and
three-sixteenths. I found eggs of this bird on the 15th of April, and
again on the 25th of June, which induces me to believe that it rears
two broods in the season in the State of Pennsylvania, as it probably
does also to the westward. WILSON relates the following instance of
its indifference as to the place selected for its eggs. “About six or
seven miles below Philadelphia, and not far from the Delaware, is a low
swamp, thickly covered with trees, and inundated during great part of
the year. This place is the resort of great numbers of the Qua-bird or
Night Raven (_Ardea Nycticorax_), where they build in large companies.
On the 25th of April, while wading among the dark recesses of this
place, observing the habits of these birds, I discovered a Long-eared
Owl, which had taken possession of one of their nests, and was sitting;
on mounting to the nest, I found it contained four eggs, and breaking
one of these, the young appeared almost ready to leave the shell. There
were numbers of the Qua-birds’ nests on the adjoining trees all around,
and one of them actually on the same tree.”
When encamped in the woods, I have frequently heard the notes of this
bird at night. Its cry is prolonged and plaintive, though consisting of
not more than two or three notes repeated at intervals.
Dr RICHARDSON states that it has been found “as far north as Lat. 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 _Arvicola_, 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; 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. 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 inches
in breadth; while the English ones measured 1.8 inch in length, and
1-1/4 in breadth. The form and colour were the same in both.”
The food of this Owl consists of rats, mice, and other small
quadrupeds, as well as birds of various species; its stomach having
been found by me crammed with feathers and other remains of the latter.
There is a marked difference between the sexes. The males are not
only smaller than the females, but darker; and this has tempted me
to consider the _Strix Mexicanus_ of Mr SWAINSON and the Prince of
MUSIGNANO as merely a large female of our Long-eared Owl.
STRIX OTUS, _Linn._ Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 132.—_Lath._ Ind.
Ornith. vol. i. p 53.—_Ch. Bonaparte_, Synopsis of Birds of
United States, p. 37.
LONG-EARED OWL, STRIX OTUS, _Wils._ Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p.
52, pl. 50, fig. 1.
STRIX OTUS, LONG-EARED OWL, _Richards. and Swains._ Fauna
Bor.-Amer. vol. ii. p. 72.
LONG-EARED OWL, _Nuttall_, Manual, vol. i. p. 130.
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXXIII.
Bill short, stout; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly curved
from the base, towards the end decurved, the ridge broad at the base,
narrowed anteriorly, convex in its whole extent, the sides sloping at
the base, convex towards the tip, the edges soft and obtuse as far as
the nostrils, then sharp and barred to the end, below the nostrils
inflected, afterwards direct, the tip acute, and at its extremity
descending obliquely; the cere of moderate length, feathered on the
sides; the lower mandible straight, its angle elongated, wide, and
rounded, the dorsal line very short and slightly convex, the back
and sides convex, the edges toward the end sharp and inflected,
their outline decurved and with a slight sinus on each side, the tip
obliquely truncate. Nostrils medial, lateral, large, oblique, oblong,
in the fore edge of the cere, with a tough soft membrane above, and
having internally a ridge curved backwards from the inner edge.
Head very large, flattened anteriorly; neck short; body very slender,
but seeming large on account of the great mass of plumage. Feet of
moderate length, and stout; tarsi feathered, short; toes also short,
and feathered; the third and fourth connected at the base by a short
web; the first shortest, and admitting of much lateral motion, the
third longest, the second and fourth nearly equal. On all the toes
are two terminal scutella. Claws long, curved in the fourth of a
circle, tapering, extremely acute, rounded above, very narrow beneath,
the first and second rounded, the rest flat; that of the fourth toe
smallest, of the first slightly larger, those of the other toes much
larger and nearly equal.
Plumage extremely soft and downy. The facial disks complete, and
composed of circular series of weak, slender, slightly recurved
feathers, having remote barbs; surrounding which is a ruff formed of
several rows of oblong incurved feathers, having the barbs close. The
feathers of the forehead are apparent between the ruffs, although that
part is very narrow; the bill is partially concealed by the plumage;
the feathers are oblong or ovate, and rounded, extremely soft, and
blended, those on the tarsi and toes, small, and somewhat silky. Wings
long and broad; primaries very broad, rounded, the outer a little
incurved towards the end, the first sinuate on the inner web near
the end, the second very slightly so; the second longest, the third a
little shorter, the fourth a little longer than the first; the outer
in its whole length, the second towards the end, and the first alular
feather, with the barbs disunited and recurved at the ends. Tail rather
short, slightly convex, a little rounded, of twelve broad rounded
feathers, having feeble shafts.
Bill brownish-black, cere flesh-coloured; iris orange; claws
bluish-grey, dusky towards the end. The colouring of the plumage is
very intricate, but may be described as buff, mottled and spotted
with brown and greyish-white. The disks are whitish anteriorly, with
the tips black, posteriorly reddish-white; the ruff mottled with red
and black; the upper part of the head, minutely mottled with whitish,
brownish-black, and light red; the tufts light reddish toward the base,
brownish-black in the central part toward the end, the inner edge
white, dotted with dark-brown. The upper parts are buff, variegated
with brown and whitish-grey, minutely mottled or undulatingly barred.
The first row of coverts tipped with white on the outer web; the edge
of the wing, and the outer margin of the first alular feather also
white; the alula and primary coverts greyish-brown barred with darker;
the quills and scapulars pale grey, barred with dark brown, and having
more or less buff towards the base of the outer web, that colour being
conspicuous on the six outer primaries. The tail is barred and mottled
in the same manner, the bars very narrow, ten on the middle and eight
on the outer feathers. The lower parts are in general similar to the
upper, but with more buff, and fewer spots, each feather with a long
dark brown streak and several irregular transverse bars. The legs and
toes are pure buff. The lower surface of the wing is yellowish-white,
a few of the coverts with a brown spot; the quills banded with brown
towards the end. The lower tail-coverts have a narrow central brown
line.
Length to end of tail 14-1/2 inches, to end of claws 14-3/4, to end of
wings 15; extent of wings 38; wing from flexure 11-1/2; tail 6; bill
along the ridge 1-5/12; tarsus 1-8/12; hind toe (7-1/2)/12, its claw
8/12; second toe 1, its claw 9/12; third toe 1-2/12, its claw 10/12;
fourth toe 8/12, its claw 7/12. Weight 8 oz.
The Female is considerably larger, and of a lighter colour than the
male, but otherwise similar.