GEN. CHAR. Size varying from medium to very large. No ear-tufts. Head very large, the eyes comparatively small. Four to six outer primaries with their inner webs sinuated. Tarsi and upper portion, or the whole of the toes, densely clothed with hair-like feathers. Tail considerably more than half as long as the wing, decidedly rounded. Ear-orifice very high, but not so high as the skull, and furnished with an anterior operculum, which does not usually extend along the full length; the two ears asymmetrical. Bill yellow. [Illustration: =4357= ⅓ _Syrnium nebulosum._] Subgenera. =Scotiaptex.= Six outer quills with their inner webs emarginated. Toes completely concealed by dense long hair-like feathers. Iris yellow. (Type, _S. cinereum_.) =Syrnium=, SWAINSON. Five outer quills with their inner webs emarginated. Toes not completely concealed by feathers; sometimes nearly naked; terminal scutellæ always (?) exposed. Iris blackish. (Type, _S. aluco_.) The typical species of this genus are confined to the Northern Hemisphere. It is yet doubtful whether the Tropical American species usually referred to this genus really belong here. The genera _Ciccaba_, Wagl., and _Pulsatrix_, Kaup, have been instituted to include most of them; but whether these are generically or only subgenerically distinct from the typical species of _Syrnium_ remains to be decided. Our _S. nebulosum_ and _S. occidentale_ seem to be strictly congeneric with the _S. aluca_, the type of the subgenus _Syrnium_, since they agree in the minutest particulars in regard to their external form, and other characters not specific. [Illustration: =4337= ½ ½ _Syrnium nebulosum._] Species and Varieties. _a._ _Scotiaptex_, SWAINS. 1. =S. cinereum.= Iris yellow; bill yellow. Dusky grayish-brown and grayish-white, the former prevailing above, the latter predominating beneath. The upper surface with mottlings of a transverse tendency; the lower surface with the markings in the form of ragged longitudinal stripes, which are transformed into transverse bars on the flanks, etc. Face grayish-white, with concentric rings of dusky. Wing, 16.00–18.00; tail, 11.00–12.50. Dark markings predominating. _Hab._ Northern portions of the Nearctic Realm … var. _cinereum_. Light markings predominating. _Hab._ Northern portions of the Palæarctic Realm … var. _lapponicum_. _b._ _Syrnium_, SAV. COMMON CHARACTERS. Liver-brown or umber, variously spotted and barred with whitish or ochraceous. Bill yellow; iris brownish-black. 2. =S. nebulosum.= Lower parts striped longitudinally. Head and neck with transverse bars. Colors reddish-umber and ochraceous-white. Face with obscure concentric rings of darker. Wing, 13.00–14.00; tail, 9.00–10.00. _Hab._ Eastern region of United States …