STRIOID.E — THE OWLS. 9 



guatemalcc, in South America by var. lurJiitu, and in the West Indies by the 

 var. /areata. Tlie Old World has also numerous representative races, of 

 which we have, however, seen only two, namely, \m: javanica ((Jm.), of Java, 

 India, and Eastern Africa, and var. dcHcatula ((iouldj of Australia, both of 

 which we unhesitatingly refer to S. flxtmmm} 



On the Xorth American continent the only widely distributed species 

 which do not vary perceptibly with the region are Otus hraclujotas and 0. 

 vuhjaris (var. wilsonianus). Baho cirijiaiuiiaa, Scops u.slo, and SyrniiDn nchu- 

 losum all bear tlie impress of special laws in the several regions of their 

 habitat. Starting with the Eastern Province, and tracing either of these three 

 species southward, we find it becoming gradually smaller, the colors deeper 

 and more rufous, and the toes more scantily feathered. Scups asiu reaches its 

 minimum of size and maximum depth of color in Elorida (vav. Jluridana) 

 and in Me.xico (var. cnaiw). 



Of tlie other two I have not seen Florida specimens, but examples of 

 both from other Southern States and the Lower Mississippi Valley region are 

 much more rufous, and — the S. lubulosinn especially — smaller, with nujre 

 naked toes. The latter species is darkest in Eastern Mexico (var. mrtori), 

 and most rufescent, and smallest, in Guatemala (yav. fill cesccns). In the mid- 

 dle region of the United States, Sco2JS asio (var. maccalli) and Bubo xinjini- 

 anus (var. arctkus) are more grayish and more delicately pencilled than from 

 other portions. In the northwest coast region they become larger and much 

 more darkly colored, assuming the clove-brown or sooty tints peculiar to the 

 region. The var. Iccmiicofti represents S. asio in this region, and var. pacificiis 

 the B. virginianus. Tiie latter species also extends its range around the 

 Arctic Coast to Labrador, and forms a northern littoral race, the very oppo- 

 site extreme in color from the nearly albinescent examples of var. arcticits 

 found in the interior of Arctic America. 



A very remarkable characteristic of the Owls is the fact that many of the 

 species exist in a sort of dimorphic condition, or that two ])lumages suffi- 

 ciently unlike to be of specific importance in other cases belong to one 

 species. It was long thought that these two phases represented two distinct 

 species; afterwards it was maintained that they depended on age, sex, or sea- 

 son, different authors or observers entertaining various opinions on the sub- 

 ject ; but it is ]iow generally believed that every indi\idual retains through 

 life the plumage which it first acc|uires, and that young birds of both forms 

 are often found in the same nest, their parents being either both of one 

 form, or both of the other, or the two styles paired together.^ The normal 

 plumage, in these instances, appears to be grayish, the pattern distinct, the 

 markings sharjily defined, and the general appearance much like that of spe- 

 cies which do not have the other plumage. The other plumage is a repla- 



1 For (li.ignosps of tliese geogra{ihii;al races of SIrij: flummm, see pp. 13.39 and 1340. 



2 See Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zobl., Cambriage, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 338, 339, where these 

 plumages are discu.ssed at length. 



VOL. in. 2 



