338 BULLETIN OF THE 



above Lake George, and only heard its notes a few times below. Mr. 

 Maynard gives it as rather common about Jacksonville, and says he 

 frequently observed it elsewhere. 



Mr. Cassin has very properly remarked that different specimens of this 

 widely distributed species vary materially in size and color, and states that 

 after having examined a large number of specimens from many localities 

 he believed that they were all of one species. lie thought, however, that 

 four leading varieties, which he called allanticus, pacijicus, arclicus, and 

 magellanicus, could be distinguished. I am not disposed to regard them, 

 however, as by any means strictly geographical, since specimens have been 

 taken recently in Massachusetts that typically represent each of them.* 

 While there are doubtless more or less well-marked local forms of this 

 species, as of all other widely distributed species, many of the differences 

 on which the different varieties have been based are probably only indi- 

 vidual. 



94.* Scops asio Bonaparte. Mottled Owl. 



Strix asio Linne, Syst. Nat, I, 132, 17G7. — Wilson, Am. Orn., V, 83, pi. 



xliii, fig. 1, 1812. — Audubon, Nuttall, etc. 

 Scops asio Boxaparte, Geog. and Comp. List, 6, 1838. — Cassin, Illust. 



Birds Cal. and Texas, 179, 1854. —Cassin, Baird's Birds N. Am., 51, 1858. 



— Allen, Amcr. Nat., IF, 327, 18G8. 

 Strix no?via Gmelin, Syst. Nat., 289, 1788. — Wilson, Am. Orn., Ill, 16, pi. 



xix, fig. 1, 1812. 

 Bul>o striatus Vieii.lot, Ois. Am. Sept., I, 54, pi. xxi, 1807. 

 Ephialles choliba Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. Nat. Hist., VI, 4, 1854. 

 Scops McCalli Cassin, Illust. Birds Cal. and Texas, 180, 1854. — Cassin, 



Baird's Birds N. Am., 52, 1858. 

 Scops Kennicotti Elliot, Proc. Phil. Acad. Nat. Sci., 1867, 69. — Ibid., Illust. 



Birds N. Am., pi. xi. — Baird, Trans. Chicago Acad. Sci., I, 311, pi. 



xxvii, 1869. 



Specimens were procured by Mr. Maynard, by whom, and also by 

 Mr. Boardman, it is reported as not unfrequent. 



The remarkable differences in the color of the plumage this species 

 presents has led many to suppose it embraced two well-marked species, 

 the reil stage being recognized as one and the gray or mottled as another. 

 Gmelin described the red stage as Strix asio (which is the same as the 

 Strix asio of Linne", and the Scops caro'inensis of Brisson) and the gray 

 6tage as Strix nmvia. Wilson redescribed these different stages as distinct 

 species. Bonaparte was the first to regard them as identical, he believing 



♦ See Part III, p. 189. 



