Dr. Hoy’s description of the species now before us was first published in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy, VI. p. 211, (Dec. 1852,) from which we make the following extract: “But two specimens of this bird have been taken, to my knowledge; the first was captured in October 1851, and kept until winter, when it made its escape; the second, that from which the above description was taken, flew into an open shop, July 1852. It is strictly nocturnal, utters a low tremulous note, and is an active and efficient mouser.” We have been informed by Dr. Hoy that during the past summer (1853,) he had succeeded in obtaining another specimen which proved to be a female. It is slightly larger than the male, but similar in all other respects. The figures in our plate represent the male bird, and are about two-thirds of the size of life. DESCRIPTION AND TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS. Genus Nyctale. Brehm, Handb. Nat. Vog. Deutschlands, p. 111, (1831.) Size, small. Bill rather weak and almost concealed by projecting plumes at its base, strongly curved and sharp. Wings moderate, rounded, with the third and fourth quills nearly equal and longest; tail moderate, tarsi short, and with the toes densely clothed with hair-like feathers; claws rather long, slender, and very sharp. Type N. _Tengmalmii_ (Gmelin). Nyctale Kirtlandii. Hoy, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philada., VI. p. 210, (Dec., 1852.) Form. Small, but compact, wing with the fourth quill slightly longest, tarsi and toes fully feathered, claws slender, sharp. Dimensions of a skin from Dr. Hoy. Male, total length from tip of bill to end of tail, about 7 inches; wing, 5¼; tail, 3 inches. “Extent of wings, 16 inches,” (Dr. Hoy.) Female, rather larger. Colors. Male. Head and upper portion of breast, and entire upper parts dark chocolate-brown; front and eye-brows white, and a line of the same color extending downwards from the base of the lower mandible; ear feathers behind the eye darkest; primaries with white spots on their outer margins forming three irregular bars, and with circular spots of white on their inner webs; tail rather darker than the back, narrowly tipped with white, and having two bands composed of spots of white. Entire under parts of the body, tarsi and toes, reddish-ochre-yellow; bill and claws black, iris-yellow. Hab. State of Wisconsin. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada., and in Dr. Hoy’s coll. Racine, Wisconsin. Obs. This little Owl is strictly congeneric with _Nyctale Harrisii_ Cassin. Proc. Philada. Acad. IV. p. 157, (Feb. 1849,) and Journal of the same society, Quarto II., plate V., but different in size and color. _N. Harrisii_ is the same as _Ciccaba gisella_ Bonaparte, Cons. Av. p. 44, (1850.) The present bird also resembles, in some degree, _Strix frontalis_ Lichtenstein, described in a Fauna of California, in Transactions of the Berlin Academy, 1838, p. 430.