BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 807 



eyebrows, lores, and "cravat" under chin white; lower parts white, 

 marked with ragged, rather longitudinal, blotches of pale brownish 

 or rusty, finely mottled with darker. 



Range.— Desert region of southwestern United States and north- 

 western and central Mexico; Socorro Island, Revillagigedo groap, oflp 

 western Mexico. (Two species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF MICR0PALLA8. 



a. General color of upper parts brownish gray or grayish brown; lighter bands on 

 tail narrower, much paler buffy (white on inner webs); under parts with much 

 more of white. {Micropallas whitneyi.) 

 b. Upper parts browner; under parts conspicuously blotched with cinnamon. 

 (Southeastern California to southwestern New Mexico and Souora.) 



Micropallas whitneyi whitneyi (p. 807). 



bb. Upper parts grayer; under parts not conspicuously (often not at all) blotched 



with cinnamon. 



c. Paler, especially the markings on under parts, which have relatively less of 



white; wing shorter (averaging 105.5 in male). (Southern Lower California.) 



Micropallas whitneyi sanfordi (p. 809). 

 cc. Darker, especially the markings on under parts, which have relatively more 

 of white; wing longer (averaging 109.5 in male). (Lower Rio Grande 

 Valley; south to east-central Mexico?) 



Micropallas whitneyi idoneus (p. 810). 

 aa. General color of upper parts olive-brown; lighter bando on tail broader, deep cin- 

 namon-buff; under parts with much less of white. (Socorro Island, western 

 Mexico.) Micropallas graysoni (p. 810) 



MICROPALLAS WHITNEYI WHITNEYI (Cooper). 



ELF OWL. 



Grayer phase. 



Adults (sexes alike). — General color of upper parts brownish gray 

 to grayish brown, the pileum, hmdneck, back, scapulars, rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, and lesser wing-coverts with more or less distinct small 

 irregular spots of buff or pale tawny, these larger and deeper pale 

 tawny or cinnamon-buff on forehead; an interrupted narrow collar 

 of white across lower hindneck; outer webs of scapulars mostly 

 white, margined terminally with blackish ; middle and greater wing- 

 coverts with a large, semi-ovoid spot of white on terminal or subter- 

 minal portion of outer web; secondaries crossed by about five series 

 of semicircular spots^of pale cinnamon-buff, these passing into white 

 on outer edge; primary coverts with three series of dull cinnamon- 

 buff spots ; outer webs of primaries with about six conspicuous spots 

 of cinnamon-buff (those on distal primaries more or less extensively 

 white exteriorly), these not touching shafts; tail crossed by about 

 four or five narrow, interrupted bands of pale brownish buffy or buffy 

 and white, these not reaching shaft on either web ; "eyebrow ' ' (super- 

 ciliary region) white, the feathers narrowly tipped with black; "face" 

 Goral, suborbital, and auricular regions) cinnamon to cimiamon- 

 buff, the last sometimes partly dull rusty whitish; a white malar or 



