302 



BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The size variations of this owl are indicated in the following 

 table : 



Sclater ^^ gives the range of this bird as from Senegal and Sennar 

 southwards. Its northern boundary extends considerably to the east 

 of Sennar as the work of Von Heuglin, Finsch, Antinori, and others, 

 has shown it to go as far as Bogosland and the Beni-Amer region, 

 while Blanford °^ procured it in Eritrea and extreme northeastern 

 Ethiopia at Mayen in the Senafe pass at about 3,500 feet, and in the 

 Anseba valley. It occurs in wooded regions up to about 8,000 feet. 



All observers agree that this species is largely diurnal in its 

 habits. The bird procured at Gato River on April 16 was flying 

 about in bright sunlight. 



According to Lynes ^^ the breeding season in Darfur is spring 

 and early summer; the complete postnuptial molt taking place to- 

 ward the end of summer. A female (Mus. Comp. Zool. 95375) from 

 Dodoma, central Tanganyika Territory, collected on April 7, is molt- 

 ing all the tail feathers, so there may be some variation in molting 

 (and hence probably also of breeding) season in different parts of 

 Africa. 



BUBO AFRICANUS CINERASCENS Guerin Meneville 



Buto cinerascens Gu£bin-M6neviixe, Rev. Zool., 1843, p. 321: Ethiopia. 



Specimens collected: 



Female, Spring in Indunumara Mountains, Kenya Colony, July 

 18, 1912. 



'^Ibis, 1915, p. 391. 



*" Syst. Avium Ethiop., 1924, p. 244. 



"Geol. and Zool. Abyss., 1870, p. 303. 



