242 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



CRYPTOGLAUX ACADICA BROOKSI Fleming 

 QUEEN CHARLOTTE OWL 



HABITS 



A dark race of the saw-whet owl was first recognized and described 

 by Dr. Wilfred H. Osgood (1901), and called the northwest saw-whet 

 owl (Nyctala acadica scotaea) ; the type was collected at Massett, Queen 

 Charlotte Island, British Columbia, on December 19, 1896. The 

 characters given for it are: "Similar to N. acadica, but darker both 

 above and below, dark markings everywhere heavier; flanks, legs, and 

 feet more rufescent." He says further in regard to it: "This dark- 

 colored form of the Acadian owl doubtless ranges throughout the humid 

 Pacific coast region. * * * The only specimens that I have exam- 

 ined beside the type are several imperfect ones from Puget Sound, 

 which are in the National Museum collection. These agree with the 

 type in richness of color and extent of dark markings." 



Ridgway (1914) treated scotaea as a synonym of acadica, after 

 examining the type of the former and other material available, for he 

 says: 



I am not able to make out any geographic variation in this species except a 

 slight average difference in the hue of the brown of the upper and under parts, 

 which is reddest in examples from the Pacific coast district (British Columbia to 

 southern Mexico), more grayish brown in those from the Rocky Mountains, inter- 

 mediate, but nearer the former, in those from the Atlantic side. * * * The 

 only peculiarities that I am able to observe in the type of Nyctala acadica scotsea 

 consist in the deep ochraceous-buff auricular region and more reddish brown of 

 the pileum; but I am of the opinion that these characters will not prove constant 

 when more specimens from the Queen Charlotte Islands have been examined. 



The Queen Charlotte owl (Cryptoglaux acadica brooksi) was named 

 and described by J. H. Fleming (1916), based on three adult females 

 and one immature bird, taken on Graham Island, in the Queen Char- 

 lotte group, and sent to him by J. A. Munro; ho also examined two 

 more, one of them a male. These are all very much darker than Os- 

 good's type of scotaea, in both sexes; for a detailed description the 

 reader is referred to Mr. Fleming's paper. He suggests that|the type 

 of scotaea may have been a stray from the mainland, as it is very differ- 

 ent from the birds he has described as brooksi, which probably represent 

 the resident race of the islands. That there may be another race on 

 the Pacific coast, of which scotaea is typical, is a possibility; but Mr. 

 Ridgway failed to recognize it, and Mr. Fleming says that it "is only 

 approached by a bird from Queretaro, Mexico, and is much brighter 

 than a male from Victoria, B. C, which in turn can be matched by 

 Ontario birds." 



Nothing seems to be known about the nesting habits of this race; 

 but we have no reason to think that, in these or other habits, it differs 

 materially from the eastern race; its food and its plumage changes are 



