Captain C. F. Hall, the celebrated Arctic voyager, during one of his expeditions found a nest and four eggs of this species on the bare ground. These were packed up in an old moccasin, and sent, without emptying, to the Smithsonian Institution, where, after an interval of several months, they were successfully emptied, and are now among the choice treasures of the national museum. GENUS SURNIA, DUMÉRIL. _Surnia_, DUMÉRIL, Zoöl. Anal. 1806, 34. (Type, _Strix ulula_, LINN.) GEN. CHAR. Size medium; form elongated, and general aspect hawk-like. No ear-tufts. Four outer quills with their inner webs sinuated, the third longest; tail nearly as long as the wing, graduated. Ear-conch small, simple, oval. Bill strong, yellow; eyes small, the iris yellow. Tarsi and toes thickly covered with soft dense feathers; tarsus shorter than the middle toe. Plumage much more compact, and less downy, and remiges and rectrices stiffer and straighter than in other Owls. The single species of this genus belongs exclusively to the cold temperate and arctic zones of the Northern Hemisphere, and is circumpolar. Though somewhat hawk-like in its appearance, it is nevertheless a true Owl, and possesses no affinities of structure with the Hawks, any more than other species of _Strigidæ_. Species and Races. =S. ulula.= Above dark vandyke-brown, the head above dotted with white, and the scapulars spotted with the same. Beneath transversely barred with vandyke-brown and white, the bars regular, continuous, and sharply defined. Head and neck with two lateral, and one posterior medial, stripes of brownish-black, the space between them with white prevailing. Bill and iris yellow. Wing, about 9.00; tail, 6.80–7.00. White spotting prevailing. _Hab._ Palæarctic Realm … var. _ulula_.[31] Brown spotting prevailing. _Hab._ Nearctic Realm … var. _hudsonia_. Surnia ulula, var. hudsonia (GMELIN). AMERICAN HAWK OWL.