58 NORTH AMERICAX BIRDS. 



respects, and of wliicli it is to be regarded as a geographical race. It was 

 first taken by IMr. E. S. Holden, near Sacramento, and described by iMr. 

 Lawrence as tlie ^phialtcs choliba of \'icillot. It has since been found in 

 other parts of California, in Northern Mexico, Arizona, and on tin- itio 

 Grande. It was obtained in Tamaulipas — where it is evidently rather com- 

 mon- — by tlie late Dr. IJerlamUcr, wlio liad also ])rocured its eggs. A single 

 specimen of this (.)\vl was olilained by Mr. A. Schott in Texas, and ]\Ir. 

 Dresser also obtained two small Uwls which lie doubtfully refers to this 

 variety, — one near San Antonio, and the other in Bandera (,'ounty. Lieu- 

 tenant Bendire writes that it is quite counuun in the vicinity of Tucson, 

 Arizona, thougli Dr. Coues did not meet with it. Dr. Kennerly observed it on 

 Bill Williams Fork, in Xew Mexico. It was there found living in the large 

 Ccrcus giganteus so common in that region, where it occupied the deserted 

 holes of various kinds of Woodpeckers. It rarely made its appearance dur- 

 ing the day, and then only to show its head from the liole, ready at any 

 moment to disapjjear at the apjjroach of danger. On one occasion it was 

 observed among some very thick bushes near the water. It does not appear 

 to have lieen met with by Dr. Cooper in California, where he refers all tlie 

 Owls of this genus to the common nxio. A single individual, referred 

 doubtfully to this bird, was taken by Mr. Skinner in Guatemala. Tlie eggs 

 of tliis bird, taken in Tamaulijjas by Dr. Berlandier, are of nearly globular 

 shape, of a clear, almost crystal-white color, and measure l.lo inches in 

 length by (I. US of an inch in breadth. As compared with the eggs of Smps 

 asio they are mucli smaller, their relative capacitj^ being only as five to eight. 

 The eggs of the var. asio vary greatly in size according to their locality. 

 Those taken in Florida are so much smaller than those from Massachu- 

 setts as almost to be suggestive of specific differences. An egg from Hud- 

 son, Ma.?s., taken by ]\Ir. Jillson in April, 1870, measures 1.50 by 1.30 

 inches, while one from Monticello, Fla., taken by Mr. Samuel Pasco, meas- 

 ures 1.30 by 1.15 inches. Jlr. T. H. Jackson, of Westchester, Penn., in- 

 forms me that he has found a nest of this Owl containing six fresh eggs, on 

 the 5th of April. 



Scops flammeola, Light. 



FEILNEK'S OWL. 



Scops flammeola, LicnT. Mils. Bcrol. Nomfiiclat. p. 7, 1854. — K.\up, Trans. Zobl. Soc. 

 IV, 22C. — SciiLEGEL, Mus. do Pays-Bas, Oti, p. 27. — SCLAT. Proc. Zobl. Soo. 1858, 

 96. — ScL. & S.\i.v. P. Z. S. 1868, 57 ; F.xot. Oni. VII, 90, jil. 1, July, 1868. — GiiAV, 

 Hand List, I, 47, 1869. — Elliot, lUust. Birds Am. I, pi. .x.wiii. — Coues, Kc-y, 

 1872, 203. 



Sp. Guar. AduU (42,159, Orizaba Mountain.s "rare," February 3, 1865; Professor F. 

 Sumicbrast). Ground-color above pale cinereous, this overlaid on the top of the head, 

 nape, and back by a brownish-olive shade, tlio ash showing pure only on the boi'ders 



