1887] PKOCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 85 



until quite adult specimens are obtained the identification must remain 

 somewhat doubtful. 



On the other hand, I feel not quite assured that it is possible to dis- 

 tiuguisli between an American race and an Old World form of this 

 species. The latter is said to be a trifle smaller, but it is hardly con- 

 sistent to keep them separate as long as the Mallard and Pin-tail 

 Ducks of the two hemispheres are nob deemed worthy of separation. 



Asio accipitrinus (Pall.). 

 Short-eared Owl. Pueo. 



ITll.—Sirix accipitrina Pallas, Raise Eiiss. Reich., I, p. 455. — Asio accipitrinus Newton, 



YarrelPs Brit. B., 4th ed., I, p. 163 (1872).— Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. 



Mns., IV, p. 369(1882). 

 1772.— S^n.c brachyotus FOKSTER, Phil. Trans., LXII, 1772, p. 384.— O^ms b. Peale, U. S. 



Expl. Exp., 1 ed. (p. 75) (1848).— Lichtenstein, Nomeucl. Av. Mas. Berol., 



p. 6 (1854).— SCLATER, Ibis, 1871, p. 35S.— /fL, P. Z. S., 1878, p. 348.— 



Pelzeln, Verh. Zool. Bot. Ges., 1873, p. — , Extr., p. 3.— Finsch, Ibis, 1880, 



p. 78.— Wallace, Island Life, p. 296 (188l).~Asio h. Sclater, Rep. Voy. 



"Challenger," Zool., II, pt. viii, p. 96 (1881). 

 1826. — Sirix sandwichensis Bloxham, Voy. "Blonde," App., p. 250. 

 1852. — Otus sandvicensis Hartlaub, Wiegm. Arch., XVIII, pp. 97, 131. — Id., Journ. f. 



Orn., 1854, p. 170.— Asio s. Blyth, Ibis, 1863, p. 27. 

 1858. — Brachyotus galapagoensis Cassin, U. S. Expl. Exp. Mam. Orn., p. 107 (nee 



Gould).— Dole, Proc. Boston Soc. N. H., XII, 1869, p. 296, Extr., p. 3, (scr. 



gallapagoensis). — Id., Hawaiian Almanac, 1879, p. 43. 

 1875. — [ Jsio accipitrinus'] S Asio sandwichensis Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., II, p. 238. 



The four specimens of Short-eared Owls from the Hawaiian Islands 

 before me do not seem to justify the retention of Asio sandicichensis 

 as a separable race. 



Two of them (Nos. 110034 and 110035) agree in general coloration with 

 the majority of American specimens; the two others are deeper tawny, 

 and No. 110036 nearly uniform dusky on the back, but it is in very 

 abraded plumage, and is, moreover, easily matched by several other 

 specimens in the large series of the United States IS'ational Museum. 



The character pointed out by Mr. Sharpe (Cat. B. Brit. Mus., II, p. 

 239), viz, the "very dusky frontal patch," I find well pronounced in my 

 Hawaiian specimens, but as Mr. Sharpe has found the same in some 

 Asiatic examples and it also apparently occurs in some American speci- 

 mens which have come under my own observation, I am very doubtful 

 as to the importance of this character. I am bound to remark, how- 

 ever, that I believe the make of the skin and the abrasion of the feath- 

 ers to have something to do with it, and future observations based on 

 fresh birds or absolutely perfect specimens may be necessary to settle 

 this question, which is of considerable importance in order to ascertain 

 whether the owls on the Hawaiian Islands are in part migratory or not. 



That they are not smaller than those from other localities is evident 

 from the measurements which I have given below. Those of the largest 

 individual are about equal to the average of the species, while the 



