276 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



to New Mexico." Ridgway (1914) extends its range farther south- 

 ward into western and central Texas, and into northern Durango. 



William Brewster (1891) describes it as "of about the size of 

 M[egascops] bendirei, with the ground color more ashy; the dark 

 markings coarser, and more numerous and conspicuous, than in any 

 other North American member of the genus." Ridgway (1914) de- 

 scribes it, from another angle, as "similar to 0. a. cineraceus but larger, 

 the upper parts more coarsely mottled or vermiculated and with 

 blackish mesial streaks broader and more strongly contrasted with 

 the general color; blackish pencilings of under parts heavier, rather 

 less numerous. Smaller and much darker than 0. a. mazwelliae." 



Mr. Brewster (1891) says: "I had the skin of Mr. Aiken, who, if I 

 remember aright, asserted that it was a fair representative of the form 

 which inhabits Cottonwood timber along streams in the plains region 

 about Colorado Springs, maxwelliae, of which he showed me several 

 typical specimens, being confined to the neighboring mountains." 



Nesting. — Charles E. H. Aiken (Aiken and Warren, 1914) says that 

 he "has never found it anywhere except in cottonwood trees along the 

 streams. * * * A pair bred in 1913 in a flicker's hole in a tree on 

 St. Vrain Street, Colorado Springs beside the home of Dr. W. W. 

 Arnold, raising four young. The owls drove away the flickers which 

 had bred in the hole the year before, taking possession for themselves." 



Major Bendire (1892) writes: "Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army, 

 found a Screech Owl breeding near Fort Wingate, New Mexico, which 

 I think is referable to this subspecies. He took three well incubated 

 eggs on April 18, 1887, from a cavity in an oak tree 10 feet from the 

 ground, capturing alive both parents at the same time. I have seen 

 photographs of these specimens, and they show every indication that 

 the originals belonged to this race." 



There are two sets of eggs of this owl in the Thayer collection. 

 One was taken at Rowse Junction, Colo., on May 9, 1899; the two 

 fresh eggs lay on a lot of trash and rubbish in a cavity 8 inches deep 

 in a live cedar.- The other set of four eggs was taken in Decatur 

 County, Kans., on April 13, 1913; the nest was in an abandoned 

 flicker hole, 14 inches deep, in a poplar tree 18 feet from the ground; 

 the eggs were deposited on decayed chips and a few feathers. 



Eggs. — Three or four eggs are usually laid by this owl; these are 

 indistinguishable from the eggs of other screech owls of similar size. 

 The measurements of 28 eggs average 36 by 30.7 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 38.2 by 30.5, 37 by 35.9, 

 34 by 30, 36.5 by 29.4 millimeters. 



Plumages. — Aiken and Warren (1914) write: "January 9, 1904, a 

 Screech Owl in the red phase was taken near Colorado Springs, the 

 skin of which is now in the Aiken Collection. This skin was examined 



