14 



KORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



laid with a tings of fine orange-ochraceous, lighter than the tint of the upper parts ; and, 

 excepting on the jugulum, anal region, and crissuni, with numerous minute but distinct 

 specks of black; under surface of wings delicate yellowish-white, the lining sparsely 

 sprinkled with black dots; inner webs of primaries with transverse bars of mottled dusky 

 near their ends. 



Extreme plumages. Darkest (No. G,884, ^, Tejon Valley, Cal.; '"R. S. W." Dr. 

 Heermann) : There is no white whatever on the plumage, the lower parts being con- 

 tinuous light ochraceons ; the tibije have numerous round spots of blackish. Lightest 

 (Xo. G,S85, same locality) : Face and entire lower parts immaculate snowy-white ; facial 

 circle white, with the tips of the feathers orange; the secondaries, primai-ies, and tail 

 show no bars, their surface being uniformly and finely mottled. 



Measurements ((J, 6,884, Tejon Valley, Cal.; Dr. Heermann). Wing, 13.UU ; tail, 

 o.VO; culmen, .90; tarsus, 2.50; middle toe, 1.25. Wing-formula, 2, 1-3. Among the 



Strix pratincola. 



verv numerous specimens in the collection, there is not one marked 9 ■ The extremes 

 of a large series are as follows : Wing, 12.50 - 14.00 ; tail, 5.70 - 7.50 ; cuhnen, .90 - 1.10 ; 

 tarsus, 2.55 - 3.00. 



H\B. More southern portions of North America, especially near the sea-coast, from 

 the Middle States southward, and along the southern border to California ; whole of 

 Mexico. In Central America appreciably modified into var. gitaiemala:. In South Amer- 

 ica replaced by var. pertain, and in the West Indies by the quite different var. furcata. 



Localities: "Oaxaca (Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 390); Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 18G5, 330); 

 Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 49) ; ? Bahamas (Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 18G7, 65). 

 Kansas (Snow, List of B. Kansa,«) : Iowa CAllex, Iowa Geol. Report, IT, 42J). 



Tlie variations of plumaiie noted above appear to lie of a ]iurely individual 

 nature, since they do nfit depend upon the locality ; nor, as far as we can 

 learn, to any considerable extent, upon age or sex. 



H.viiiTS, On the Atlantic coast this bird very rarely occurs north of 

 Pennsylvania. It is i;iven by Mr. Lawrence as very rare in the vicinity of 

 New York, and in tliree instances, at least, it has been detected in New 

 En<;land. An individual is said, by I'ev. .T. H. Linsley, to have been 

 taken in 1843, in Stratford, Conn.; another was sliot at Sacliom's Head in the 

 same State, October 28, 1865 ; and a third was killed in May, 1868, near 

 Springfield, Mass. 



