MacFARLANE'S screech owl 277 



by Mr. William Brewster, who pronounced it to be typical Otus asio 

 asio. Later Mr. H. C. Oberholser also examined it, and considers it 

 to be the red phase of aikeni, and tells us that he has seen several 

 other specimens of the red phase of this subspecies, and that while 

 very close to the red phase of typical asio they may be distinguished 

 by being slightly paler in color." Dr. Louis B. Bishop writes to me 

 that he also has the red phase of this race in his collection. 



Voice. — Mr. Aiken (Aiken and Warren, 1914) gives the following 

 account of the notes uttered by a young female that he had in 

 captivity: 



Its baby or birdling call was like the smothered mew of a kitten; this was fre- 

 quently uttered as a call for food or in answer to its name, or as a call to me for 

 notice. After completing its moult this cry was not often uttered unless she was 

 hungry and demanding attention. A note that was uttered when excited was 

 a short wow, wow, repeated several times, reminding me of a puppy's bark. This 

 was uttered at times when very hungry and demanding immediate notice, and 

 was also uttered as notice of the presence of a dog — very vehemently when a dog 

 came into the shop. A note like cr-r-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo uttered gently and so 

 low as to be heard only a few yards away was seemingly a love note and was an 

 affectionate greeting to me as it would be to her mate. Then another note 

 similar, possibly the same under other conditions was like the whistling of ducks' 

 wings in overhead flight at night. 



OTUS ASIO MACFARLANEI (Brewster) 

 MacFARLANE'S SCREECH OWL 



HABITS 



This large race of the screech owl occupies an interior range in 

 southern British Columbia, eastern Washington and Oregon, western 

 Montana and Idaho, and northeastern California. Major Bendire 

 (1892) says of its haunts: "MacFarlane's Screech Owl is a constant 

 resident wherever found and its habitat as far as known seems to be 

 restricted to the timbered bottom lands of the lower sagebrush and 

 bunch grass covered valleys and plains of the dry interior portions of 

 the States above mentioned. It seems to avoid the mountains, and I 

 do not believe that it is found at much greater altitudes than 4,000 

 feet." 



William Brewster (1891), in naming and describing this subspecies, 

 characterized it as "of the size of M. kennicotti, but with the color and 

 markings of M. bendirei." This race has a gray phase and a brown 

 phase, but in the latter phase it is not as dark as kennicotti. 



Nesting. — Major Bendire (1892) writes: "Its general habits are in 

 no way different from those of the other members of the genus Mega 

 scops, excepting that on account of its larger size it is compelled to 

 nest entirely in natural cavities of trees, the excavations made by the 

 larger Woodpeckers breeding in the same localities, like Melanerpes 

 torquatus and Colaptes cafer, being too small to accommodate them." 



