812 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



M[icrathene] graysoni 'RmGW AY, Man. N. Am. Birds, 1887, 267. 

 M[icropaUas] graysoni Ridgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1896, 267. 

 Micropallas graysoni Salvin and Godman, Biol. Centr.-Am., Aves, iii, 1897, 38 



(Socorro I.). 

 [Micropallas] socorroensis [lapsus] Sharpe, Hand-list, i, 1899, 299 (Socorro I.; 



nomen nudum). 



Genus SPEOTYTO Gloger. 



Speotyto Gloger, Hand-und Hilfsbuch der Naturg., 1842, 226. (Type, Strix 



cunicularia Molina.) 

 Pholeoptynx Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. (Type, Strix cunicularia Molina.) 



Small terrestrial Bubonidse (wing about 147-190 mm.) with nostril 

 near center of the semibulbous cere; relatively small head, without 

 ear-tufts; small, simple, nonoperculate, symmetrical external ear- 

 openings, and long legs (the tarsus twice as long as middle toe without 

 claw). 



Bill rather stout; top of cere less than half as long as chord of cul- 

 men, broad, depressed below the swoUen nasal bulbs. Nostril small, 

 circular, near center of the much swoUen or semibulbous cere. 

 External ear-openings small, simple, nearly oval, nonoperculate, sym- 

 metrical. Wing rather large, with longest primaries exceeding distal 

 secondaries by nearly one-fourth the total length of wing; eighth and 

 ninth, or seventh, eighth and ninth, <^ primaries longest, the tenth 

 (apparent outermost) equal to or slightly longer than sixth ;^ tlii'ee 

 outer primaries with inner webs sinuated (though sometimes only 

 the outermost very distinctly so). Tail less than half as long as wing, 

 truncate or very slightly rounded, composed of twelve (rarely 

 thirteen*^) rectrices. Tarsus twice as long as middle toe without 

 claw, naked behind, clothed in front with short, hair-like feathers 

 (sometimes changing to bristles on lower portion), the upper side of 

 toes (except terminal phalanx) scantily bristled; outer toe decidedly 

 shorter than inner toe. 



Coloration.- — Adults brown above, spotted, barred, or otherwise 

 variegated with dull white or buffy; under parts white or buffy 

 broadly barred or transversely spotted with brown; superciliary 

 region, chin and jugular area white; a gular collar of mixed brown 

 and buffy. Young plain brown above, except wings and tail, which 

 are marked as in adults; upper tail-coverts, large- space on wing- 

 covert area, and under parts of body plain buffy, the upper throat 

 and a jugular area plain white. 



Range. — Treeless districts of North, Middle, and South America; 

 north to British Columbia (interior) and Manitoba, east to the Great 



o Second and third or second, third and fourth, from outside. 



6 Fifth from outside. 



c According to Hubert Lyman Clark, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xvii, 1895, 562. 



