184 HORNED OWLS, ETC. 



Distribution. — Resident in Transition zone of New Mexico, Arizona, 

 Lower California, and northwestern Mexico. 



373g. M. a. aikeni Brewst. Aiken Screech Owl. 



About the size of the California screech owl but more ashy, the dark 

 markings coarser and more numerous both above and below. Wing : 6.56, 

 tail o.SO, bill from nostril .47. 



Distribution. — Plains, El Paso County, Colorado, and south probably to 

 central New Mexico and northeastern Arizona. 



373h. M. a. macfarlanei Brewst. MacFarlane Screech Owl. 



Size large aiul colors dark, but lighter than kennicottii ; upper parts 

 brownish or sooty gray with black shaft streaks and creamy stripes on 

 scapulars and edge of wing ; lower parts with heavy shaft streaks and 

 numerous fine cross-lines of black ; legs and feet bufEy, slightly mottled 

 with dusky. Male : wing (>.9(3, tail o.80, bill from nostril .53. Female : 

 wing 7.23, tail 3.85, bill from nostril .57. 



Remarks. — Macfarlanei is the size of kennicottii but with color and 

 markings more as in bendirei. 



Distribution. — Eastern Washington and Oregon to western Montana, 

 and probably intermediate region, and north to the interior of British 

 Columbia. 



373.1. M. trichopsis {Wagl.). Spotted Screech Owl. 



A small dichromatic species. Gray phase : upper parts brownish gray, 

 heavily lined with dusky ; lower parts grayish white, with broad shaft 

 streaks and cross-lines of blackish ; a partial collar of mottled fulvous 

 across throat and sides of neck. Bed phase : mainly light rufous, obscurely 

 streaked and barred with dusky. Length: 7.50, wing 5.66, tail 2.89, 

 tarsus 1.17. 



Distribution. — From southern Arizona to Guatemala. 



374. Megascops flammeola (Kaup). Flammulatbd Screech 

 Owl. 



Adults. — Toes entirely naked to extreme base ; ear tufts small ; upper parts 

 grayish, finely mottled and marked with blackish ; stripes on sides of back 

 yellowish brown or orange, white beneath the surface ; under parts whitish, 

 marked with broad mesial streaks and narrow cross-bars ; face, throat, 

 and upper parts sometimes washed with orange brown. Young : upper 

 parts mottled transversely with gray and white, but without black streak- 

 ing ; under parts similarly but coarsely and regularly barred. Wing : 

 5.10-5.60, tail 2.60-3.00. 



Distribution. — From northern California and Colorado south to the high- 

 lands of Guatemala. 



Nest. — In old woodpecker holes. Fggs : 3 or 4, white. 



Food. — Small mammals, scorpions, and beetles, and other insects. 



" From what we know of the habits of the flammiilated owl they 

 seem to vary but little from the other races of the screech owl fam- 

 ily. The}^ are apparently strictly nocturnal, and their food consists 

 of the smaller mammals, as well as beetles and other insects." (Ben- 

 dire.) 



