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as chair of the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, the organization responsible
for the CMA certification; served a three-year term as chair of the IMA Research Foundation;
and, for 10 years, was an associate editor of the IMA Educational Case Journal.

page v

BYU Photo

Steven D. Smith is an associate professor of accountancy and the Warnick/Deloitte

Fellow in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University (BYU). Previously
he was an assistant professor of accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign. He earned BS and MACC degrees from BYU, and MS and PhD degrees from
Cornell University. He is a certified management accountant (CMA). Professor Smith teaches
cost and management accounting courses in the undergraduate and graduate accounting
programs, as well as the executive MBA program at BYU. Professor Smith has experience
working in the field of strategic cost management, including a 2016 professional
development leave from BYU, during which he worked as an in-house financial planning and
analysis consultant for Ortho Development Corporation, a medical device company in Salt
Lake City, Utah.
Professor Smith’s expertise is in the areas of management control systems, focusing on
the provision of incentives and performance measurement. He has published numerous
articles in prestigious academic publications such as The Accounting Review, Review of
Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, and Journal of Management
Accounting Research. He has presented his research at conferences and invited presentations
throughout the world, and has also published teaching cases in the IMA Educational Case
Journal and Strategic Finance. Professor Smith has served in a variety of research- and
teaching-focused positions in both the Management Accounting Section (MAS) of the
American Accounting Association (AAA) and the Institute of Management Accountants
(IMA).
The Author Team was selected to create a leading book in cost management based
on leadership in teaching experience, research, commitment to learning, and a connection to
the profession and practice of management accounting that provides students with up-to-date
knowledge of real-world management accounting issues and practices.
 page vi

Blocher/Juras/Smith
Letter to the Students:
We have written this book to help you understand the role of cost management in helping an
organization succeed. Unlike many books that aim to teach you about accounting, we aim to
show you how an important area of accounting, cost management, is used by managers to
help organizations achieve their goals.
An important aspect of cost management in our text is the strategic focus. By strategy, we
mean the long-term plan the organization has developed to compete successfully. Most
organizations strive to achieve a competitive edge through the execution of a specific
strategy. For some firms, it is low cost; for others, it might be high quality, customer service,
or some unique feature or attribute of its product or service. We know in these competitive
times that an organization does not succeed by being ordinary. Rather, it develops a strategy
that will set it apart from competitors and ensure its attractiveness to customers and other
stakeholders into the future. The role of cost management is to help management of the
organization attain and maintain success through strategy implementation. Thus, for every
major topic covered in our text, there is a larger issue, which is: “How does this organization
compete? What type of cost management information does it need?” We do not cover a cost
management method simply to become proficient at it. We want you to know why, when, and
how the technique can be used to help the organization succeed.
An understanding of the strategic role of cost management today is so important that many
senior financial managers and many CPAs—both in public and in private practice—are
coming back to school to learn more about strategy, competitive analysis, and new cost
management techniques. Knowing how to do the accounting alone—no matter how well you
do it—is, by itself, no longer sufficient. Cost management with a strategic emphasis is one
way to enhance your career and to add value to your employer, whatever type of organization
it might be.

New Data Analytics in form of Applying Excel and Applying Tableau

Key Text Features that Integrate Strategy

Real-World Focus Cost Management provides extensive real-world examples of how cost
management systems can add value to the organization. The Real-World Focus boxes
throughout the text take real organizations and demonstrate strategy in action and the role
that cost management plays in supporting the organization’s strategy.
To augment this coverage, the Blocher team encourages students to further explore real-
world companies through Cost Management in Action boxes that appear in each chapter
throughout the text. This feature poses important questions that make students think critically
about the relationship between cost management and organizational strategy. At the end of
each chapter, the faa_au1s then supply their comments for the Cost Management in Action
boxes.

Text Illustrations Clear and concise exhibits help illustrate basic and complicated topics
throughout the book.
 page vii

Helping Students Succeed Using Cost

Management, 9e
Problem Material The Blocher team has taken great care to develop assignment material
that effectively reinforces concepts, procedures, and strategic issues presented in each
chapter. In addition, each chapter has one or more end-of-chapter assignments that focus on
ethical issues or that deal with an international context or a service (i.e., nonmanufacturing)
setting. The faa_au1s also include exercises and problems that relate topical coverage to the
general issue of sustainability. Where appropriate, the chapters have assignments based on
readings from periodicals such as Strategic Finance, Management Accounting Quarterly, The
Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Business Review. These assignments link topical material in
the chapter to the broader, strategic issues that organizations face. End-of-chapter
assignments that embrace a distinguishing focus are identified as follows:

A Framework for Integrating Strategy: The Five Steps of Strategic Decision

Making
The first edition of Cost Management introduced a five-step framework for decision making
with a strategic emphasis. The framework shows that each decision starts and ends with a
consideration of the organization’s strategy. To extend and integrate the strategic emphasis,
the ninth edition continues the tradition of including this five-step framework throughout the
text. In all but a few chapters, there is a short section that uses the five-step framework to
show how a consideration of the organization’s strategy plays a key role in making decisions
that will address the business-related problems presented in that chapter.
The Competitive Global Economic Environment Increases the Importance of
Reviewing and Executing Strategy
The competitive global economic environment requires today’s firms to place an even greater
emphasis on the successful execution of their strategies. Moreover, increased competitive
pressures may require organizations to review and modify their strategies to compete more
effectively in the competitive global environment. Throughout this new edition, we also
cover how economic and political forces in many countries are currently opposing certain
aspects of globalization—for example, tighter immigration policies and the protection of
domestic workers. We first saw this in 2016, when a referendum in the United Kingdom
concerning its membership in the European Union (EU) favored separation (called Brexit, or
“British Exit”).
Integration of Advanced Excel Skills Development
Success in business requires the ability to use technology to extract information from
quantitative data, and then to present that information in a way that helps others understand
and make better decisions. Microsoft Excel has been and remains the dominant spreadsheet
program for organizing, manipulating, and analyzing quantitative data. The faa_au1s of Cost
Management have made a unique effort to integrate Excel training within the text as a
complement to the material being presented. Excel instructions and hints are also presented
in the end-of-chapter materials wherever spreadsheet application may be useful for students.
These integrated Excel features are additional to the other Excel-focused resources of the
book, as described in the paragraphs that follow.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENT RESOURCES
NEW Data Analytics and Visualization Assignments The ninth edition introduces
additional data analytics and visualization content in
Connect. This includes video and text instruction, assignment material, and feedback using
cases developed for Tableau.
Excel Tutorials The ninth edition provides brand new, updated Excel tutorial content in each
of the 20 chapters. Students can simultaneously hone their Excel skills and apply those skills
to managerial topics using functions such as pivot tables, Goal Seek, and regression analysis.
Tutorials are offered for each chapter in both step-by-step tutorial documents and videos, as
well as in “Applying Excel” content within Connect, enabling instructors to more easily
integrate Excel into their courses and allowing students further practice using algorithmic
versions.
Excel Solution Manual For each chapter, Cost Management provides a solution manual in
Excel form. The Excel file provides the solution to every exercise and problem in its own
spreadsheet tab, with soft-coded formulas wherever computations are needed. This resource,
which is unique to Cost Management, provides immense flexibility for instructors to (1) help
students understand challenging computations, (2) easily demonstrate sensitivity of outputs
to variations in inputs, (3) efficiently deploy solutions as needed, (4) resolve pesky rounding
issues, and (5) facilitate additional exposure to advanced Excel functions.

page viii
Excel Simulations Excel Simulations, assignable in Connect, allow students to practice their
Excel skills—such as basic formulas and formatting—within the context of accounting.
These questions feature animated, narrated Help and Show Me tutorials (when enabled), as
well as automatic feedback and grading for both students and professors. These questions
differ from Applying Excel in that students work in a simulated version of Excel.
Downloading the Excel application is not required to complete Excel Simulations.
Cases and Readings Supplement The Cases and Readings Supplement, available in the
Instructor Library and Additional Student Resources, challenges students to think about and
use cost management information in a real-world setting. Several of the cases are offered as
auto-graded assignments in Connect in the ninth edition. The content provides critical
thinking skills development as well as a basis for more comprehensive and in-depth
discussions about the role of cost management in helping an organization successfully
execute its strategy.
Self-Study Problems Cost Management provides a multifaceted self-study problem before
the questions, exercises, and problems at the end of each chapter. The solution to the static
version of each problem in the book is provided at the very end of the chapter. These
problems are more comprehensive in nature and can be an invaluable resource for students to
assess their own understanding of chapter material. The ninth edition offers algorithmic
versions of the self-study problems in Connect in addition to the worked-through versions
included in the book. Instructors can assign these now and, with the auto-grading feature, can
use these as additional assessment content. Students also have access to the static book
versions and tutorial videos to work on their own time and at their own pace, using the step-
by-step solution to each self-study problem found in the Additional Student Resources.
 page ix

Connect Library
The Connect Instructor Library is a repository for these additional resources to improve
student engagement in and out of class. You can select and use any asset that enhances your
lecture. Additional ancillary materials are prepared by the faa_au1s to ensure consistency and
accuracy and are available in the Instructor Resources within the Connect Library and via the
Additional Student Resources within the eBook. The Connect Instructor Library includes:
Instructor’s Guide and Solutions Manuals, both in PDF and Excel forms.
Teaching notes for the Cases and Reading Supplements.
PowerPoint lecture presentations.
Test bank (including TestGen and Test Bank Matrices). TestGen is a complete, state-of-the-
 art test generator and editing application software that allows instructors to quickly and
easily select test items from McGraw Hill’s test bank content. The instructors can then
organize, edit, and customize questions and answers to rapidly generate tests for paper or
online administration.
The Additional Student Resources include:
Excel Tutorials.
Data Analytics and Visualization Assignments.
Check Figures.
Self-Study Problems.
PowerPoint Slides.
Cases and Readings Supplement.
Regression Analysis Supplement.
Variance Investigation Supplement.
 page x

Instructors: Student Success Starts with

You
Tools to enhance your unique voice
Want to build your own course? No problem. Prefer to use our turnkey,
prebuilt course? Easy. Want to make changes throughout the semester?
Sure. And you’ll save time with Connect’s auto-grading too.

Study made personal

Incorporate adaptive study resources like SmartBook® 2.0 into your
course and help your students be better prepared in less time. Learn
more about the powerful personalized learning experience available in
SmartBook 2.0 at
www.mheducation.com/highered/connect/smartbook
Laptop: McGraw Hill; Woman/dog: George Doyle/Getty Images

page xi
Students: Get Learning that Fits You
Effective tools for efficient studying
Connect is designed to make you more productive with simple, flexible,
intuitive tools that maximize your study time and meet your individual
learning needs. Get learning that works for you with Connect.

Everything you need in one place

Your Connect course has everything you need—whether reading on your
digital eBook or completing assignments for class, Connect makes it easy
to get your work done.

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Learning for everyone

McGraw Hill works directly with Accessibility Services Departments and
faculty to meet the learning needs of all students. Please contact your
Accessibility Services Office and ask them to email
accessibility@mheducation.com, or visit
www.mheducation.com/about/accessibility for more information.

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 page xii

What’s NEW about the 9th Edition

Big Data Analytics and Visualization: Applying Tableau and
Applying Excel
The ninth edition of Cost Management introduces data analytics and visualization
assignments using “Applying Tableau” in Connect. This includes video and text instruction,
assignment material, and feedback using cases developed for both programs. These cases and
assignments provide vital training and development in one of the most important emerging
aspects of management: using technology to navigate and analyze large data sets and
facilitating clear understanding of data insights with effective visualization tools.

New Excel Training: Videos, Documentation, and Integration

The Excel Tutorial videos and documentation for each chapter have been fully reproduced
for the ninth edition, using Excel version 16. Students can simultaneously hone their Excel
skills and apply those skills to managerial topics using functions such as pivot tables, charts
and graphs, Goal Seek, Solver, and regression analysis. Tutorials are offered for each chapter
in both step-by-step tutorial documents and videos. In addition, the book provides “Applying
Excel” content within Connect, enabling instructors to more easily integrate Excel into their
courses and allowing students further practice using algorithmic versions. As always, Cost
Management is unique in its integration of Excel skills into both the text of the chapters and
much of the end-of-chapter content.

Certified Management Accountant (CMA) Exam Preparation:

Practice Problems and Essays
Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis, 9e, also offers a large selection of recently used
Certified Management Accountant (CMA) Exam problems and essay questions (with
solutions) in Connect. These problems and essay questions are linked to the book chapters to
which the topics most closely relate, and they create an even richer library of content (much
of it auto-gradable) that instructors may use to build homework and other assignments. These
problems also present valuable practice material for students who are interested in pursuing
the CMA designation, either as students or following their formal education.

Globalization and Anti-Globalization (“Brexit”)

From the first edition, the book has addressed globalization and global issues as an important
feature of cost management with a strategic emphasis. Globalization appears frequently in the
text and in the exercises and problems. A section in Chapter 1, under the heading The Global
Business Environment, explains the new economic nationalism trends that oppose
globalization. An example of this trend is the 2016 referendum in the United Kingdom in
favor of separation from the EU (referred to as “Brexit”). Economic nationalism attempts to
protect domestic workers and industries from foreign competition. It opposes globalization,
free trade, and immigration. The effect of economic nationalism on the role of cost
management can be significant, and we bring this up throughout the ninth edition.

Integration of Important Topics throughout the Text

Key topic areas for the course are integrated across the chapters. As previously noted,
strategy is integrated throughout the text. In addition, accounting for “lean” is included in
four chapters as it relates to the subject matter of that chapter. Similarly, time-driven activity-
based costing (TDABC) is covered in the ABC chapter (Chapter 5) and also in the chapter on
budgeting (Chapter 10). ABC appears in most of the chapters in Part Two because it has a
key role in planning and decision making. Nonfinancial performance measures and the
balanced scorecard (BSC) are introduced in Part One and then covered as part of the
operational and management control chapters included in Parts Three and Four. Resource
consumption accounting (RCA) is covered both in Chapter 5 and again in page xiii
Chapter 15. The topic of capacity resource planning is covered in Chapters 10
and 15. These are just examples of the efforts the faa_au1s have made to integrate key topics
throughout the text.

Enhancing Features from Prior Editions

Significant new material has been added to Connect to greatly enhance the usefulness of
this teaching and learning environment.
Chapters have been revised to include up-to-date issues in cost management and discuss
how accountants are dealing with these issues; examples include the COVID recession,
economic nationalism (Brexit), changes in sustainability reporting practices, data analytics,
the volatility of foreign exchange rates, strategic cost management, and changes in
management compensation practices, among others. Because of the strategic focus of the
book, we put emphasis on providing current, real-world examples in the text and in the
problem material. This material is then updated for each new edition.
End-of-chapter exercises and problems have been improved, with a strong focus on
providing clarity, a clear linkage to chapter learning objectives, with varying and
appropriate levels of challenge.
Remote Proctoring & Browser-Locking Capabilities
New remote proctoring and browser-locking capabilities, hosted by Proctorio within
Connect, provide control of the assessment environment by enabling security options and
verifying the identity of the student.
Seamlessly integrated within Connect, these services allow instructors to control students’
assessment experience by restricting browser activity, recording students’ activity, and
verifying students are doing their own work.
Instant and detailed reporting gives instructors an at-a-glance view of potential academic
integrity concerns, thereby avoiding personal bias and supporting evidence-based claims.

Test Builder in Connect

Available within Connect, Test Builder is a cloud-based tool that enables instructors to format
tests that can be printed or administered within an LMS. Test Builder offers a modern,
streamlined interface for easy content configuration that matches course needs, without
requiring a download.
Test Builder allows you to:
Access all test bank content from a particular title.
Easily pinpoint the most relevant content through robust filtering options.
Manipulate the order of questions or scramble questions and/or answers.
Pin questions to a specific location within a test.
Determine your preferred treatment of algorithmic questions.
Choose the layout and spacing.
Add instructions and configure default settings.
Test Builder provides a secure interface for better protection of content and allows for just-in-
time updates to flow directly into assessments.

Tegrity: Lectures 24/7

Tegrity in Connect is a tool that makes class time available 24/7 by automatically cap​turing
every lecture. With a simple one-click start-and-stop process, you capture all computer
screens and corresponding audio in a format that is easy to search, frame by frame. Students
can replay any part of any class with easy-to-use, browser-based viewing on a PC, Mac, iPod,
or other mobile device. Educators know that the more students can see, hear, and experience
class resources, the better they learn. In fact, studies prove it. Tegrity’s unique search feature
helps students efficiently find what they need, when they need it, across an entire semester of
class recordings. Help turn your students’ study time into learning moments immediately
supported by your lecture. With Tegrity, you also increase intent listening and class
participation by easing students’ concerns about note-taking. Using Tegrity in Connect will
make it more likely you will see students’ faces, not the tops of their heads.
 page xiv

Improving Student Success with Connect

Connect End-of-Chapter Material

Connect helps students learn more efficiently by providing feedback and practice material
when they need it, where they need it. Connect grades homework automatically and gives
immediate feedback on any questions students may have missed. The extensive assignable,
gradable end-of-chapter content includes a new multitab design for easier navigation for
select exercises. Significant amounts of new auto-graded Connect content have been added
with the ninth edition, including the problem set in both static and algorithmic form, select
Cases, and Applying Excel questions, along with a new algorithmic test bank.

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of a dark and rainy night, some of the servants having left the gate
open, Trumpeter made his escape, and was never again heard of.
With the manners of this species during the breeding season, its
mode of constructing its nest, the number of its eggs, and the
appearance of its young, I am utterly unacquainted. The young bird
represented in the plate was shot near New Orleans, on the 16th of
December 1822. A figure of the adult male you will find in Plate
CCCCVI; and should I ever have opportunities of studying the habits
of this noble bird, believe me I shall have much pleasure in laying
before you the results. Dr Richardson informs us that it “is the most
common Swan in the interior of the Fur Countries. It breeds as far
south as lat. 61°, but principally within the arctic circle, and in its
migrations generally precedes the Geese a few days.”
As the adult bird will be subsequently described, I judge it
unnecessary at present to enter into a full detail of the external form
and characters of the species, and will therefore confine myself to
the colours and proportions of the individual represented.

Cygnus Buccinator, Richardson.—Trumpeter Swan, Fauna Bor.-Amer.

vol. ii. p.464. “White; head glossed above with chestnut; bill entirely black,
without a tubercle; tail-feathers 24; feet black.”

Young after first moult. Plate CCCLXXVI.

In winter the young has the bill black, with the middle portion of the
ridge, to the length of an inch and a half, light flesh-colour, and a
large elongated patch of light dull purple, on each side; the edge of
the lower mandible and the tongue dull yellowish flesh-colour. The
eye is dark brown. The feet dull yellowish-brown, tinged with olive;
the claws brownish-black; the webs blackish-brown. The upper part
of the head and the cheeks are light reddish-brown, each feather
having towards its extremity a small oblong whitish spot, narrowly
margined with dusky; the throat nearly white, as well as the edge of
the lower eyelid. The general colour of the other parts is greyish-
white, slightly tinged with yellow; the upper part of the neck marked
with spots similar to those on the head.
Length to end of tail 52 1/2 inches; extent of wings 91, wing from
flexure 23 1/4; bill along the ridge 4 3/8, from the angle of the eye 6,
along the edge of the lower mandible 4 1/8; tarsus 4 1/2; hind toe
1 1/4, its claw 3/8; middle toe 6 1/4, its claw 1; inner toe 4 1/2, its claw
10/ ; outer toe 6 1/4, its claw 3/4. Weight 19 lb. 8 oz.; the bird very
12
poor.
 SCOLOPACEOUS COURLAN.

Aramus Scolopaceus, Vieill.

PLATE CCCLXXVIL Male.

This very remarkable bird appears to be entirely confined to that

section of the Peninsula of Florida known by the name of “Ever-
glades,” and the swampy borders of the many bayous and lagoons
issuing from that great morass. Few are found farther north than
“Spring-garden Spring,” of which I have given you an account. I have
heard of its having been in one instance procured on one of the
Florida Keys, by Mr Titian Peale, whose specimen, which was a
young male, has been described and figured in the continuation of
Wilson’s American Ornithology. None were seen by me on any of
these islands, and our worthy Pilot told me, that in the course of the
many years which he had spent in that country he had never met
with one off the main-land. It did not occur to me on any part of the
coast, while I was proceeding to the Texas, nor is it to be found in
that country, which seems very strange, when I look at this bird, and
compare it with the Rail family, which is so abundant along the whole
of that coast, and to which it is very nearly allied in some of its
habits, more especially to the Fresh-water Marsh Hen, Rallus
elegans.
The flight of the Scolopaceous Courlan is heavy and of short
duration; the concavity and shortness of its wings, together with the
nature of the places which it inhabits, probably rendering it slow to
remove from one spot to another on wing, it being in a manner
confined among tall plants, the roots of which are frequently under
water. When it rises spontaneously it passes through the air at a
short distance above the weeds, with regular beats of the wings, its
neck extended to its full length, and its long legs dangling beneath,
until it suddenly drops to the ground. Few birds then excel it in
speed, as it proceeds, if pursued, by long strides, quickly repeated,
first in a direct course, along paths formed by itself when passing
and repassing from one place to another, and afterwards diverging
so as to ensure its safety even when chased by the best dogs, or
other not less eager enemies inhabiting the half-submersed
wilderness which it has chosen for its residence. When accidentally
surprised, it rises obliquely out of its recess, with the neck greatly
bent downward, and although its legs dangle for a while, they are
afterwards extended behind in the manner of those of the Heron
tribe. At such times these birds are easily shot; but if they are only
wounded, it would be vain to pursue them. Although of considerable
size and weight, they are enabled, by the great length and expansion
of their toes to walk on the broad leaves of the larger species of
Nymphæa found in that country. They swim with the same buoyancy
as the Coots, Gallinules, and Rails.
The nest of this bird is placed among the larger tufts of the tallest
grasses that grow at short distances from the bayous, many of which
are influenced by the low tides of the Gulf. It is so well fastened to
the stems of the plants, in the same manner as that of Rallus
crepitans, as to be generally secure from inundation; and is
composed of rank weeds matted together, and forming a large mass,
with a depression in the centre. The eggs, which rarely exceed five
or six, are large for the size of the bird. The young are hatched early
in May, and follow their parents soon after birth, being covered with
coarse tufty feathers, of a black colour.
The Ever-glades abound with a species of large greenish snail, on
which these birds principally feed; and, from the great number of
empty shells which are found at the foot of the nest and around it, it
is probable that the sitting bird is supplied with food by her mate.
Their notes, when uttered while they are on wing, are a sort of
cackle, but when on the ground, much louder, especially during the
pairing season, or when they are started by the report of a gun. The
flesh of the young is pretty good eating. Although it is alleged that
this bird occasionally alights on trees, I have never seen it in such a
situation.

Ardea scolopacea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 647.—Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. ii.
p. 701.
Aramus scolopaceus, Ch. Bonap. Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 39.
Scolopaceous Courlan, Aramus scolopaceus, Ch. Bonap. Amer. Ornith.
vol. iv. p. 111, pl. 26, fig. 2.—Nuttall, Manual, vol. ii. p. 68.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXVII.

Bill long, being double the length of the head, rather slender, but
strong, much compressed, straight, its breadth less before the
nostrils than towards the point; upper mandible with the dorsal line
straight until towards the end, then slightly arcuato-declinate, the
ridge convex in its whole length, the sides nearly erect, more convex
towards the extremity, the tip blunted, the edges broad and obtuse
for half their length, sharp but thick in the rest of their extent; lower
mandible slightly ascending at the base, then direct, much
compressed towards the tip, which is acute, the angle long and very
narrow, the dorsal line slightly convex, the edges obtuse, becoming
sharp towards the end. Nasal groove nearly half the length of the bill;
nostrils direct, linear, long.
Head rather small, oblong, compressed. Eyes rather large. Neck
long and slender. Body ovato-oblong, much compressed. Feet very
long and slender, rather stout; tibia bare in its lower half, which is
anteriorly covered with hexagonal scales, posteriorly with transverse
scutella; tarsus long, compressed, anteriorly with numerous broad
scutella, laterally with very small elongated scales, posteriorly with
large scutelliform scales, many of which are divided; toes long,
rather slender; hind toe small and elevated; fourth considerably
longer than second, middle toe nine-twelfths of an inch longer than
the outer; the anterior toes are divided to the base, compressed,
scutellate above, scaly on the sides, papillate beneath, compressed
and not marginate. Claws of moderate length, very slightly arched,
compressed, tapering to a point; that of the first toe smallest, of the
third largest, without serratures on the inner edge, which is thin and
a little expanded.
Plumage of ordinary texture, rather compact and glossy on the upper
parts, blended on the lower; feathers on the head and neck short,
oblong; on the back ovate and very broadly rounded. Wings of
moderate length, very broad, concave, rounded; primaries broad,
secondaries very broad and rounded; first primary two-thirds of the
length of the second, which is ten-twelfths shorter than the third; the
fourth, which is longest, exceeds the third by one-twelfth, and the
fifth by half a twelfth; some of the secondaries reach to half an inch
of the tip of the longest primary when the wing is closed; the three
outer quills are narrower toward the base than toward the extremity,
more especially the first. The tail is short, broad, convex, rounded, of
twelve broad, rounded feathers.
Bill greenish-yellow, dusky toward the end of both mandibles, but
especially of the upper; iris hazel; feet lead-grey, claws dusky. The
general colour of the plumage is chocolate-brown, the upper parts
glossed, with purple and bronze reflections; the fore part of the head
paler, inclining to grey, each feather with a greyish-white central line;
the sides of the head and the throat are still lighter, and a small
portion of the throat is whitish, these parts being streaked with
greyish-brown and greyish-white; the lower eyelid white. The hind
part and sides of the neck are marked with elliptical spots of white in
regular series, there being one on each feather, some of them
extending forwards to the posterior angle of the eye. Some of the
feathers on the middle of the breast and the lower wing-coverts are
similarly marked with lanceolate white spots; the tail is more highly
glossed and coloured than the rest of the upper parts.
Length to end of tail 25 3/4 inches, to end of wings 25, to end of
claws 32, to carpal joint 13 3/4; extent of wings 41; wing from flexure
12 1/2; tail 5 1/2; bill along the ridge 4 7/12, along the edge of lower
mandible 4 3/4; bare part of tibia 2 1/2; tarsus 4 8/12; hind toe 1 1/12, its
claw 7/12; second toe 2 4/12, its claw 3 1/2/12 twelfths; third toe 3 1/2, its
claw 10/12; fourth toe 2 8/12, its claw 8/12.
The Female is somewhat less, but resembles the male.

Length to end of tail 25 inches, to end of claws 33 1/4; to end of

wings 24, to carpal joint 12 3/4; extent of wings 42; wing from flexure
12; tail 4 3/4; bill along the gape 4 3/8.

The young when fully fledged is of a much lighter tint; the head and
fore-neck brownish-grey, the lower parts greyish-brown. The bill is
yellowish-green, darker toward the end; the feet much darker than in
the adult. Excepting the quills, primary-coverts, tail-feathers, and the
rump, all the plumage is marked with spots of white, of which there is
one along the centre of each feather; those on the neck elongated,
on the back, wings, and breast lanceolate. In this state it is figured in
the continuation of Wilson’s American Ornithology, by the Prince of
Musignano.
Length to end of tail 23 inches.
This remarkable bird has exercised the ingenuity of the
systematizing ornithologists, some of whom have considered it as a
Heron, others a Crane, while many have made it a Rail, and many
more a genus apart, but allied to the Rails, or to the Herons or to
both. It seems in truth to be a large Rail, with the wings and feet
approaching in form to those of the Herons; but while frivolous
disputes might be carried on ad libitum as to its location in the
system of nature, were we merely to consider its exterior; it is
fortunate that we possess a means of determining its character with
certainty:—if we examine its digestive organs, we shall at once see if
it be a Rail, or a Heron, or anything else. If a Heron, it will have a
very wide œsophagus, a roundish, thin-walled stomach, very slender
intestines, and a single short obtuse cœcum; if a Rail or Gallinule, or
bird of that tribe, it will have a narrow mouth, a narrow œsophagus, a
very muscular stomach, intestines of moderate width, and two
moderately long, rather wide cœca. Here then are two specimens,
shot in Florida, and preserved in spirits.
The first, which is found to be a female, has the mouth narrow,
measuring only 7 twelfths across; the tongue very long and
extremely slender, trigonal, pointed, extending to within half an inch
of the tip of the lower mandible, being 3 7/12 inches in length. The
œsophagus, a b c d, which is 12 inches long, is narrow in its whole
length, its diameter at the upper part being 6 twelfths, below the
middle of the neck 8 twelfths. The proventriculus, b c, is nearly 1 inch
long, 9 twelfths in its greatest diameter, bulbiform; its glandules
cylindrical, 1 1/2 twelfth long. Between the termination of the
proventriculus, and the commencement of the stomach, the space, c
d, is more elongated than usual, an inch and 2 twelfths, and presents
the appearance of a tube curved toward the left in the form of the
letter S. The circular fibres of this part are strong, and its epithelium
is very thick, soft, and raised into twelve very prominent rounded
longitudinal rugæ. The stomach, properly so called, d e f g is an
extremely powerful gizzard, of an orbicular form, compressed, with
its axis a little inclined toward the right side, its length 1 inch and 9
twelfths, its breadth 1 inch and 8 twelfths, its thickness 11 twelfths.
The left lateral muscle, d f, is much larger than the right, occupying
nearly one-half of the organ; the muscles are thick, but not very
remarkably so, their greatest thickness being 4 twelfths; the
epithelium is very hard and rugous. The duodenum, g h i, curves in
the usual manner, folding back upon itself at the distance of 3
inches. The intestine, g h i j k, is of moderate length, 31 inches, its
greatest diameter 3 twelfths; the rectum, k l, 3 inches long, including
the cloaca, l m, which is globular, 1 1/2 inch in diameter; the cœca, n
n, of moderate size, 1 3/4 inch long, for nearly half their length 2
twelfths in diameter, in the rest of their extent from 4 to 6 twelfths,
obtuse; their distance from the cloaca 10 twelfths.
The trachea, o p, is 10 inches long, narrow, of nearly uniform
diameter, being narrowest in the upper third of its length, unless for
three-fourths of an inch at the commencement. Its rings 186 in
number, are ossified, and a little flattened. The contractor muscles
are slender, as are the sterno-tracheal; and there is a single pair of
inferior laryngeal. The bronchi, p q, are wide, tapering, of about 15
narrow cartilaginous half rings. The heart is of moderate size, 1 7/12
inch long, 1 inch in breadth. The liver is small, its lobes, which are
equal, being 1 inch in length.
The other individual, a male, has the œsophagus 12 inches long; the
distance from the proventriculus to the stomach 1 2/12 inch; the
stomach 1 8/12 inch long, and the same in breadth; the cœca 2
inches long, the greatest diameter 5 twelfths; the intestine 32 1/2
inches in length, their greatest diameter 3 1/2 twelfths.
Now, in all this there is nothing indicative of any affinity to the
Herons; the structure of the intestinal canal being essentially like that
of the Coots, Gallinules, and Rails. Even the external parts
sufficiently indicate its station, the bill; the plumage, and the
colouring being more like these of the Rallinæ than of any other
family.
The Prince of Musignano, who first described this bird as a Rail,
Rallus giganteus, afterwards adopted for it Vieillot’s genus Aramus,
and considered it as belonging to the Ardeidæ, forming a connecting
link with them and the Rallidæ and “aberrating somewhat towards
the Scolopacidæ, as well as tending a little towards the Psophidæ,
sub-family Gruinæ” and claiming “again a well-founded resemblance
to the most typical form of the genus Rallus.” Finally, he reverts to
his original idea, and places it at the head of the Rallidæ. Mr
Swainson refers it to the Tantalidæ, associating it with Anastomus,
Tantalus, and Ibis, to which it certainly has very little affinity in any
point of view.
The efficiency of the digestive organs as a means of determining
affinities in cases of doubt, is happily illustrated in this instance; and
any person who will make himself acquainted with them will easily
discover numerous false associations in all systems founded on the
external aspect alone.
 HAWK OWL.

Strix funerea, Linn.

PLATE CCCLXXVIII. Male and Female.

It is always disagreeable to an author to come forward when he has

little of importance to communicate to the reader, and on no
occasion have I felt more keenly than on the present, when
introducing to your notice an Owl, of which the habits, although
unknown to me, must be highly interesting, as it seems to assimilate
in some degree to the diurnal birds of prey. I have never seen it
alive, and therefore can only repeat what has been said by one who
has. Dr Richardson gives the following account of it in the Fauna
Boreali-Americana:—
“It is a common species throughout the Fur Countries from Hudson’s
Bay to the Pacific, and is more frequently killed than any other by the
hunters, which may be partly attributed to its boldness and its habit
of flying about by day. In the summer season it feeds principally on
mice and insects; but in the snow-clad regions which it frequents in
the winter, neither of these are to be procured, and it then preys
mostly on Ptarmigan. It is a constant attendant on the flocks of
Ptarmigan in their spring migrations to the northward. It builds its
nest on a tree, of sticks, grass, and feathers, and lays two white
eggs. When the hunters are shooting Grouse, this bird is
occasionally attracted by the report of the gun, and is often bold
enough, on a bird being killed, to pounce down upon it, though it may
be unable from its size to carry it off. It is also known to hover round
the fires made by the natives at night.”
I lately received a letter from my friend Dr Thomas M. Brewer of
Boston, Massachusetts, in which he informs me that “the Hawk Owl
is very common at Memphramagog Lake in Vermont, where as many
as a dozen may be obtained by a good gunner in the course of a
single day. Its nests in the hollow trees are also frequently met with.”
It is surprising that none should have been seen by Mr Nuttall or
Dr Townsend, while crossing the Rocky Mountains, or on the
Columbia River; especially as it has been found by my friend
Edward Harris, Esq. as far southward on our eastern coast as
New Jersey.
The specimens from which the figures in the plate were drawn, were
given to me by Thomas Macculloch, Esq. of Pictou, who had a
good number of them. Two entire individuals preserved in spirits
afford materials for the following descriptions.

Strix funerea, Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 133.—Lath. Ind. Orn. vol. i. p. 62.—
Ch. Bonaparte, Synopsis of Birds of United States, p. 35.
Hawk Owl, Strix hudsonia, Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. vi. p. 64, pl. 50, fig. 6.
Strix funerea, American Hawk Owl, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-
Amer. vol. ii. p. 92.
Hawk Owl, Nuttall, Manual, vol. i. p. 115.

Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXVIII. Fig. 1.

Bill short, strong, higher than broad; upper mandible with the dorsal
line declinate and decurvate, the ridge convex, the sides convex
toward the end, the edges nearly straight until toward the end, the tip
decurvate, trigonal, acute; the cere covered with stiff bristly feathers
directed forwards; lower mandible with the angle very wide, the
dorsal outline convex, the ridge broad and convex, the sides convex,
the edges sharp toward the end, the tip obtuse, thin-edged. Nostrils
roundish, in the fore part of the cere, concealed by the feathers.
Head very large, roundish, convex above. Eyes very large. Neck
very short; body of moderate size. Legs very short, robust; tarsus
very short, feathered, as are the toes, of which the outer is
reversible; claws long, stout, compressed, tapering to a very acute
point, that of third toe with the inner edge considerably dilated.
Plumage full, very soft, blended; the cere covered with slender
stiffish reversed feathers, having their filaments disunited; the facial
disks incomplete above. Wings rather long, rounded; the third
primary longest, the fourth one-twelfth and a half shorter, the second
four and a half twelfths shorter than the third, the first intermediate
between the fifth and sixth; the first four cut out on the outer web
towards the end, the barbs on the greater part of the outer web of
the first, and the terminal portion of the second, thickened, and a
little separated, but not recurved; the secondaries of moderate
length, rounded. Tail rather long, much rounded, of twelve rather
broad rounded feathers, of which the lateral are two inches shorter
than the middle.
Bill pale yellow; iris bright yellow; claws dusky. The facial disk is
greyish-white, the shafts black, at its anterior part intermixed with
black filaments. The upper part of the head brownish-black, closely
spotted with white, there being generally three roundish spots on
each feather. The hind part of the neck is brownish-black, with two
broad longitudinal bands of white spots; a semicircle of brownish-
black feathers margins the facial disk behind. The general colour of
the upper parts is chocolate-brown, becoming lighter behind; all the
feathers marked with white spots in pairs, larger and more
conspicuous on the scapulars, disposed in bars on the rump and
upper tail-coverts. On both webs of the quills are several
transversely elliptical white spots, the outer webs of the first two and
five inner primaries excepted; the tips of all brownish-white. The tail
is marked with about eight transverse bars of white, formed by
narrow oblong alternating spots on both webs, the feathers also
tipped with white, the throat is greyish-dusky, that colour being
succeeded by a semi-circular band of white, beneath which is an
obscure brownish-black band; the rest of the lower parts transversely
barred with dusky and white; the dark bars of a deeper tint anteriorly,
approaching to chestnut on the sides and legs, fainter on the
abdomen and feet, and greyish-brown on the lower tail-coverts.
Length to end of tail 15 3/4 inches, to end of wings 12 1/2, to end of
claws 11 1/2, to carpal joint 3 3/8; extent of wings 31 1/2; wing from
flexure 9 8/12; tail 7 1/2; bill along the ridge 1 2/12, along the edge of
lower mandible 1; tarsus 1; hind toe 3/12, its claw 10 1/2/12; middle toe
10/ ,
12 its claw 10/12; inner toe 8 1/2/12, its claw 11/12; outer toe 6/12, its
claw 10/12.

Adult Female. Plate CCCLXXVIII. Fig. 2.

The Female is somewhat larger, and resembles the male, but is of a
lighter tint, especially on the wings and tail, where the white
markings are smaller and less decided.
Length to end of tail 17 1/2 inches.
An adult male, presented by Thomas M. Brewer, Esq. of Boston,
and preserved in spirits.
Fig. 1.
 Fig. 2.

The palate is concave, with two longitudinal, parallel, papillate

ridges. The posterior aperture of the nares is lanceolate, with an
anterior fissure, the space between which and the lateral ridge is
papillate. The tongue is short, fleshy, deeply emarginate and
papillate at the base, rounded and notched at the end; its length 7 1/2
twelfths, its breadth 3 1/4 twelfths. The mouth is very wide,
measuring 1 inch 1 twelfth across. The œsophagus, a b c, which is
4 3/4 inches in length, is of nearly uniform diameter, its greatest
breadth being 11 twelfths, and at its entrance into the thorax 10
twelfths. Its walls are extremely thin; but its longitudinal and
transverse muscular fibres are distinctly seen. The proventricular
glandules are very large and cylindrical, forming a belt, b c, 1 inch 1
twelfth in breadth. The stomach, c d e, is of moderate size, roundish,
1 inch 5 twelfths long, 1 inch 1 1/2 twelfth broad; its walls very thin,
the muscular coat being composed of slender fasciculi converging
toward two roundish tendinous spaces; the inner coat or epithelium
very soft and rugous, but partially dissolved by the gastric juice. The
pylorus has a semilunar margin, but is otherwise destitute of valve.
The contents of the stomach are tufts of reddish hair, resembling that
of some hare. The duodenum, e f g, which is 3 1/2 twelfths in
diameter, curves backwards and upwards, running across to the left
side, and returning upon itself opposite the fifth rib; it then proceeds
to the right side under the liver, receives the biliary ducts, passes
behind and above the stomach, and forms three folds, terminating in
the rectum, which is laterally curved, and ends in a globular cloaca, j
k, 10 twelfths in diameter. The entire length of the intestine, e f g h k,
is 18 inches, its diameter from 4 twelfths to 1 1/2 twelfth. The rectum
is 2 inches long. The cœca, Fig. 2, a b, a b, are 2 1/4 inches in
length, for 1 inch and 2 twelfths very narrow, their diameter varying
from 1 to 2 twelfths, their greatest diameter 4 twelfths, their extremity
blunt.

Fig. 3.

The aperture of the ear, Fig. 3, although very large, is inferior to that
of many Owls of similar size. It is of an elliptical form, 5 twelfths in its
greatest diameter, and 4 twelfths across.
The trachea is 3 inches long, flattened, its diameter nearly uniform,
averaging 2 twelfths; the rings moderately firm, 74 in number. The
bronchi are long, slender, of about 20 very slender cartilaginous half
rings. The contractor muscles are moderate, as are the sterno-
tracheal. There is a single pair of flat inferior laryngeal muscles,
going to the first and second bronchial rings.
 RUFF-NECKED HUMMING BIRD.

Trochilus rufus, Gmel.

PLATE CCCLXXIX. Male and Female.

This charming Humming Bird was discovered by the great navigator,

Captain Cook, who found it abundant at Nootka Sound. It does not
appear to have been seen by Dr Richardson or Mr Drummond in
the northern parts of America, traversed by those most zealous and
highly talented naturalists. As no account has hitherto been given of
its habits, the following notices from my friends Mr Nuttall and Dr
Townsend, will, I doubt not, prove highly interesting.
“We began,” says the first of-these enterprising travellers, “to meet
with this species near the Blue Mountains of the Columbia River, in
the autumn, as we proceeded to the west. These were all young
birds, and were not very easily distinguished from those of the
common species of the same age. We now for the first time (April
16.) saw the males in numbers, darting, burring, and squeaking in
the usual manner of their tribe; but when engaged in collecting its
accustomed sweets in all the energy of life, it seemed like a
breathing gem, or magic carbuncle of glowing fire, stretching out its
gorgeous ruff, as if to emulate the sun itself in splendour. Towards
the close of May, the females were sitting, at which time the males
were uncommonly quarrelsome and vigilant, darting out at me as I
approached the tree probably near the nest, looking like an angry
coal of brilliant fire, passing within very little of my face, returning
several times to the attack, sinking and darting with the utmost
velocity, at the same time uttering a curious reverberating sharp
bleat, somewhat similar to the quivering twang of a dead twig, yet
also so much like the real bleat of some small quadruped, that for
some time I searched the ground instead of the air, for the actor in
the scene. At other times, the males were seen darting up high in the
air, and whirling about each other in great anger, and with much
velocity. After these manœuvres the aggressor returned to the same
dead twig, where for days he regularly took his station with all the
courage and angry vigilance of a King-bird. The angry hissing or
bleating note of this species seems something like wht’t’t’t’t sh vee,
tremulously uttered as it whirls and sweeps through the air, like a
musket-ball, accompanied also by something like the whirr of the
Night Hawk. On the 29th of May, I found a nest of this species in a
forked branch of the Nootka Bramble, Rubus Nutkanus. The female
was sitting on two eggs, of the same shape and colour as those of
the common species. The nest also was perfectly similar, but
somewhat deeper. As I approached, the female came hovering
round the nest, and soon after, when all was still, she resumed her
place contentedly.”
Dr Townsend’s note is as follows:—“Nootka Sound Humming Bird,
Trochilus rufus, Ah-puets-Rinne of the Chinooks. On a clear day the
male may be seen to rise to a great height in the air, and descend
instantly near the earth, then mount again to the same altitude as at
first, performing in the evolution the half of a large circle. During the
descent it emits a strange and astonishingly loud note, which can be
compared to nothing but the rubbing together of the limbs of trees
during a high wind. I heard this singular note repeatedly last spring
and summer, but did not then discover to what it belonged. I did not
suppose it to be a bird at all, and least of all a Humming Bird. The
observer thinks it almost impossible that so small a creature can be