190 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvii. 



ASIO MAGELLANICUS ALGISTUS, new subspecies. 

 Chars. suJ)Sj). — Similar to ^i.svVy luaijellanicna lagophon.us., but much 

 paler throughout; the lower parts less heavily barred; the legs and feet 

 not so conspicuously mottled. 



Type locality. — Saint Michael, Alaska. 



Geograjyhical distribution. — Northwest coast region of Alaska. 



Measurements {2 males). — Wing, 355-360 (average, 357.5) mm.; tail, 

 225-245 (average, 235) mm. ; exposed culmen, -il mm. ; culmen with- 

 out cere, 29 mm. {Jf, females). — Wing, 355-390 (average, 371.5) mm.; 

 tail, 225-240 (average, 232) mm. ; exposed culmen, 39—43 (average, 41) 

 mm.; culmen without cere, 28-31 (average, 29.3) mm. 



Description.— Ty^Q, [male] adult. No. 70276, U.S.N. M.; St. Michael, 

 Alaska; L. M. Turner. — Upper parts brownish black, with nvmierous 

 mottlings and irregular bars and spots of white, most of the feathers 

 extensively ochraceous basally; tail dark brown, the middle feathers 

 and outer webs of all but the outermost vermiculated, and irregularly 

 and broadly barred with white or buffy white, this replaced b}^ ochra- 

 ceous on the rest of the tail; wing-coverts like the back; w-ing-quills 

 dark brown, broadh^ barred irregularly with buff and ochraceous; 

 horns l^rownish black, mottled with ochraceous and whitish; forehead 

 and supraloral stripe white; facial disk grayish, mixed to some extent 

 with ochraceous, and bordered behind b}^ a black band; sides of neck 

 mottled brown, white, and ochraceous; chin and throat white, separated 

 by a band of blackish feathers with ochraceous and buffy edgings; 

 breast white with some ochraceous buff, blotched, irregularlj' barred, 

 and mottled with blackish brown; abdomen and crissum white, with 

 more or less regular bars of dark brown; sides much mixed with 

 ochraceous; lining of wing white, with markings of dark brown and 

 ochraceous; tarsi and tibia? ochraceous buff, with broken bars of 

 brownish; feet buffy white, obscurely spotted with dusky. 



This subspecies of Asio magellanicus reall}' much more resembles 

 occidentalis or j^ctcijicus than it does its nearest geographic relative, 

 lagophonus; Ijut is not identical with either. From occidentalis it may 

 be separated l)y its darker upper surface, particularly^ the wings, and 

 by its somewhat less heavil}' barred lower surface; while from pacifcus 

 its larger size, less ochraceous face, and the paler ochraceous of the 

 upper surface will serve for differentiation. 



It is possible that I err in referring to lagophonus the Alaskan 

 specimens of Asio from the timbered region, for it may be that these 

 large birds are but the dark phase of algistus, yet in so far as the 

 material now available shows, save in one single instance, the differ- 

 ence in plumage is correllated with change of area, the lighter birds 

 being confined in a general way to the Barren Grounds. 



Examples from the following localities are referred to this form: 



Alaska. — St. Michael; Kowak River; Lower Yukon Kiver; Port 

 Huron; Aleknagik River. 



