BREWSTER : BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 93 



According to Mr. EiJ<;\vay, tbe Barn Owl was found by Mr. Xantus at San 

 Jose del Cabo in December and January, and at Caduana in November. Mr. 

 Belding does not mention it in any of bis lists, nor was it actually taken by 

 Mr. Frazar, but the latter obtained a number of its wing and tail feathers ou 

 the Sierra de la Laguna. Mr. Bryant heard the bird at Magdalena and again, 

 near San Quintin, and Mr. Anthony reports it as " common in the northwest- 

 ern part of the territory, up to an altitude of 3,500 feet, inhabiting old mines " 

 (Bryant). 



On the Pacific coast the Barn Owl ranges from California to southern 

 Mexico. It is apparently locally resident wherever found. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall.). 

 Short-eared Owl. 



Asio accipitrinus Ridgwat, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 533, footnote (Mira- 

 flores); Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Scl., 2d sen, II. 1889, 284 (Miraflores). 



The only record of the occurrence of this species in the Cape Region seems 

 to be that given by Mr. Ridgway of a specimen ^ taken by Xantus at Mira- 

 flores on November 25. In the upper portion of the Peninsula Mr. Anthony 

 has found it " along the coast region, north of San Fernando, in winter, and 

 has frequently flushed . . . scattered companies of six to ten, from the salt 

 grass about the bays. He has not seen them above 800 feet elevation " 

 (Bryant). 



The Short-eared Owl, at one season or another, visits nearly every part of 

 the American continent, for it is a great wanderer, and decidedly more given 

 to extended migrations than is any other species of its tribe. It breeds abun- 

 dantly in the fur countries and sparingly or locally in the United States, just 

 how far to the southward is not definitely known. 



Megascops xantusi, sp. dot. 



Xantus's Screech Owl. 



Scops asio, var. maccalli Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Amer. Birds, IIL 

 1874, 52, 53, part (descr. first full, but incomplete plumage from Cape St. 

 Lucas ; crit.). 



Scops trichopsis? (not of Wagler) Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat Mus., V. 1883, 533, 

 footnote (Cape St. Lucas). 



(?) Scops Belding, Ibid., VI. 1883, 349 (Victoria Mts. ; Agua Caliente ; Mira- 

 flores). Ridgway, Ibid. (crit.). 



1 Mr. Ridgway writes me that he cannot find this specimen, and that he does 

 not " know what can have become of it." 



