BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 681 



Genus OTUS Pennant. 



Otis a Pennant, ladiaa Zoology, 1769, 3. (Type, by monotypy, 0. bakkamaena 

 Pennant. See Stone, Auk, xxiv, 1907, 192; Allen, Bull. Am. Mus., xxiv, 

 1908, 22.) 

 Scops (not of Brunnich, 1772) Savigny, Descr. de I'Egypte, i, livT. 1, 1809, 107, 



291. (Type, S. ephialtes Saviguy^Strix scops Liunaeua.) 

 Ephialtes (not of Schranck, 1802) Keyserling and Blasius, Wirb. Eur.. 1840, p. 



xxxiii. (Type, Strix scops Linnaeus.) 

 Pisorhina Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. {Tyipe, Scops Tmnadensis Quoy and (laimurd.) 

 Megascops Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. (Tj-pe, Strix asio Linnaeus.) 

 Acnemis Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. (Type, Scops gymnopodus Gray.) 

 Ptilopsis Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. (Type, Strix leucotis Temminck.) 

 Lempijius Bonaparte, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., vi (2), 1854, 542. (Type, Otiis 



semitorquatus Schlegel.) 

 Zorca S. D. W., Analyst, ii, no. xvi, Jan., 1836, 200. (Type, Z. arborea S. D. W.= 



Strix scops Linnaeus.) 

 Scototheres & Heine and Reichenow, Nom. Mus. Hein. Orn., 1890, 249. (New- 

 name for Lempijius Bonaparte, on grounds of purism.) 

 Psiloscops <= CouES, Osprey, iii. May (pub. June 10), 1899, 144. (Type, Scops 

 flammeola Kaup.) 



Small Bubonidae (wing less — usually mucli less — than 180 ram.) 

 with more or less conspicuous ear-tufts; tarsus with at least upper 

 half feathered (usually feathered to base of toes, sometimes on toes 

 also) and ear-orifice relatively small, symmetrical, without dermal 

 flap. 



Bill relatively moderately large to rather small; top of cere decid- 

 edly shorter than chord of culmen, ascending and slightly arched 

 basally. Nostril roundish or broadly oval, opening in anterior edge 

 of the laterally mflated cere. Wing large, with longest primaries 

 extending considerably beyond longest secondaries; fifth to eighth '^ 

 primaries longest, the tenth (apparent outermost) shorter than fifth,' 

 sometimes shorter than secondaries ; two to four outer primaries with 

 inner webs emarginated or sinuated. Tail relatively short (less than 

 half as long as wing), slightly rounded; rectrices 12. Tarsus slightly 

 longer than middle toe with claw, densely feathered for at least upper 

 half, usually for entire length; upper side of toes sometimes wholly 

 naked, sometimes covered (except on terminal phalanx) with bristles, 

 more rarely clothed with short hair-like feathers. Head with more 

 or less conspicuous ear-tufts. 



Coloration. — Upper parts either conspicuously variegated with 

 brown, dusky, and whitish, grayish, or buffy, or else mostly nearly 

 miiform rufous; outer web of exterior scapulars mostly white, buffy, 



a Qxo^, a horned owl. (Richmond.) 

 b IkStoc, darkness; 6jjpd.io, I hunt. (Richmond.) 

 c Wdoc, bare, smooth; aKW(p, a small owl. (Richmond.) 



d Third to sixth when counted from outside, not including the rudimentary and 

 concealed eleventh (first) primary. 

 « Sixth from outside. 



