STEIGIDiE — THE OWLS. 49 



Wing, 6.20-6.50; tail, 3.3.5-3.50. Ilab. Southern Mid- 

 dle Province, and Southern California; Cape St. Lucas. 



var. mace alii. 

 2. S. flammeola. Toes perfectly naked, the feathering of the tarsus ter- 

 minating abruptly at the lower joint. Wing, 5.40 ; tail, 2.80 ; culmen, .35 ; 

 tarsus, .90 ; middle toe, .55. Ear-tufts short, or rudimentary. Facial circle 

 rusty. Outer ^yells of the scapulars rusty-ochraceous, in striking contrast 

 to the gra3'ish of the wings and back. Other markings and colors much as 

 in asio. Hah. Mountain regions of Mexico and California, from Guatemala 

 to Fort Crook, Northern California. 



Scops asio, TioNAP. 



LITTLE EED OWL; MOTTLED OWL; "SCREECH-OWL." 



Noctva aiirita minor, Catesby, Carol. I, 1754, 7, pi. vii. Asio scops carolinevsis, Bkiss. Orn. 

 I, 1760, 497. Strix asio, Linn. Sy.st. Nat. 1758, 92. — Gmel. S. N. 17S9, 287. — 

 L.VTii. Ind. Orn. 1790, 54. — Ie. Syn. \, 123. — Ib. Supp. \, 42 ; Geu. Hist. \, 314.— 

 Daud. Tr. Orn. H, 1800, 216.— SiiAW, Zobl. VH, 1809, 229. — Temm. PI. Col. SO. 

 — WiLS. Am. Orn. 1808, pi. xlii, f. 1. — Jard. (ed. WiLS.) Orn. L 1831, 307. — Bonap. 

 Ann. N. Y. Lye. H, 36. — Ib. Lsis, 1832, 1139. — Audubon, Birds N. A. 1831, pi. 

 xi-vii. — Ib. Orn. Biog. I, 486. — Bkewer (ed. WiLS.) Ora. 1852, p. 687. — Hobs. Nat. 

 1855, 169. Bubo asio, ViEii.L. Ois. Am., Sept., 1807, 53, pi. xxi. — Giraud, Birds Long 

 Island, 1844, 28. — Max. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 23. Otus asio, Stephen.s, Zoijl. XIII, pt. 

 ii, 1815, 57. ScoiK asio, Bonap. List, 1838, 6. — Less. Tr. Orn. 107. —Cass. Birds 

 Cal. & Tex. 1854, 179. — Is. Birds N. Am. 1858, 51. — Katjp, Monog. .Strig. Cont. Orn. 

 1852, 112. — Stkiokl. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 199. — Heerm. P. E. Kept. U, 1855, 35.— 

 Coop. & Suckl. P. B. Kept. 155. — Maynard, Bkds Eastern Mass., 1870, 131.^ 

 CoUES, Key, 1872, 202. — Gray, Hand List, I, 1869, 46. Ephialtes asio. Gray, 

 Gen. B. fol. 1844, sp. 9. — Ib. List Birds Brit. Mus. 1844, p. 96. — Woodh. 1853, 62. 

 Strix nxvia, Gmel. S. N. 1789, 2S9. — Lath. Ind. Orn. 1790, p. 55. — Ib. Syn. I, 

 126; Gen. Hist. J, 321. —Daud. Tr. Orn. II, 1800, 217. —Shaw, Zobl. VII, 1809, 

 230. — WiLs. Am. Orn. 1808, pi. xLx, f. ]. Asio nmvia, Le.ss. Man. Orn. I, 1828, 117. 

 Olus nmvius, Crv. Reg. An. (ed. 2), I, 1829, 341. Surnia juevia, James, (ed. WiLS.), 

 Orn., 1831, L 96 & 99. 



a. Xorninl plumage. 



Sp. Char. Adult. Ground-color above browni.'di-cinereous, palest on the head, purest 

 ashy on the wings, minutely mottled with fine zigzag transverse bars of black, each 

 feather with a medial ragged stripe of the same along the shaft. Inner webs of ear-tufts, 

 outer webs of scapulai-s, and oval spots occupying most of the outer webs of the two or 

 three lower feathers of the middle and secondary wing-coverts, white, forming (except on 

 the first) conspicuous spots, those of the scapulars bordered with black. Secondaries 

 crossed with about seven regular paler bands, each enclosing a more irregular dusky one ; 

 the ground-color, however, is so mottled with grayish, and the pale bands with dusky, 

 that they are by no means sharply defined or conspicuous, though they are very regular : 

 alula and primary coverts more sharply barred with cream-colored spots, those on the 

 former nearly white ; primaries with broad quadrate spots of creamy-white on outer webs, 

 these forming from seven (^) to eight (9) transver.«e bands, the last of which is not 

 terminal. Tail more irregularly mottled than the wings, and crossed by seven ( (J) to 

 eight ( 9 ) narrow, ob.solete, but continuous, pale bands. 



Eyebrows white, the feathers bordered with dusk)' (most broadly so in ^) ; cheeks, 

 ear-coverts, and lower throat dull white, with transverse bars of blackish (most numerous 



VOL. III. 7 



