BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 813 



Plains; also in southern Florida, Bahamas, Haiti, Antigua, Nevis, 

 Guadeloupe, and Margarita Island. (About eight forms, represent- 

 ing three species.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OP SPEOTYTO. 



a. Coloration lighter, the ground color of upper parts wood brown to warm sepia, with 



lighter spots averaging larger, more numerous, and pale buffy or whitish; a more 



or less conspicuous superciliary stripe of whitish; ground color of under parts less 



deeply buffy; lighter spots on outer webs of primaries larger; second, or second 



and third, primaries usually longest. 



b. Under wing coverts wholly immaculat?e buff or (rarely) with a few narrow streaks 



of brown on central or inner portion of the wing-lining area; ground color of 



under parts more pronouncedly buffy, that of upper parts more buffy brown 



with lighter spots more buffy. {Speotyto cunicularia.) 



c. Larger (wing averaging more than 179); under wing-coverts sometimes with 



a few brown streaks; buffy spots on upper parts relatively larger. (Southern 



South America.) Speotyto cunicularia cunicularia (extralimital).o 



cc. Smaller (wing averaging less than 173); under 'wing-coverts always (?) wholly 



immaculate; buffy spots on upper parts relatively smaller, or (in S. c. 



brachyptera) wing less than 155. 



d. Wing averaging more than 164, tail averaging more thaxi 70, tarsus averaging 



43 or more; coloration darker, with lighter spots on upper parts smaller. 



e. Wing and tail longer, bill and feet smaller (wing averaging more than 170, 



tail averaging not less than 79, culmen, from cere, averaging not more 



than 14, tarsus averaging not more than 45, middle toe averaging not 



more than 20) ; coloration lighter, the under parts less buffy. (Southern 



British Columbia to Panama, east to eastern edge of Great Plains.) 



Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea (p. 814). 



ee. Wing and tail shorter, bill and feet larger (averaging , wing, less than 165, 



tail less than 77, culmen, from cere, 16 or more, tarsus more than 45, 



middle toe more than 20); coloration darker, the under parts more 



strongly buffy. (Clarion Island, off western Mexico.) 



Speotyto cunicularia rostrata (p. 820). 



a Strix cunicularia Molina, Saggio Stor. Nat. Chili, 1782, 263, in text, 343 (Chile). — 

 [Strix] cunicularia Gmelin, Syst. Nat., i, pt. i, 1788, 292. — Noctua cunicularia Dar- 

 win, Journ. Nat. ' Beagle, ' 1841, 145; D'Orbigny, Voy. Amer. M6rid., Ois., 1833-44, 

 128; Burmeister, Syst.Ueb. Th. Bras., ii, 1856, 440; Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Striges, 

 1862, 30. — Otus cunicularia Cuvier, Rfegne Anim., 1829, 341. — Surnia cunicularia 

 Bonaparte, Oss. Cuv. Rfegne Anim., 1830, 50. — [Nyctipetes] cunicularia Swainson, 

 Classif . Birds, ii, 1837, 218. — Athene cunicularia Darwin, Zool. Voy. 'Beagle, ' Birds 

 '1841, 31; Kaup, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., iv, 1859, 211 (Sao Paulo, Brazil; monogr.).— 

 [Pholeoptynx] cunicularia Sclater and Salvin, Nom. Av. Neotr., 1873, 117, TpSLit.— Speo- 

 tyto cunicularia Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., ii, 1875, 142, Y>-^it.— Speotyto cunicularia, 

 var. cunicularia Ridgway, in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. Am. Birds, iii, 

 1874, 90.— (?) Strix grallaria Temminck, Planches Col., ii, livr. 25, Aug., 1822, pi. 

 146 and text (Brazil; coll. Leyden Mus.); Spix, Av. Bras., i, 1825, 21.— (?) Noctua 

 grallaria Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool., xiii, pt. 2, 1826, 67.— Noctua urucurea Lesson, 

 Traits d'Om., livr. 2, May, 1830, 103 (Paraguay, etc. ; based on Untcuru Azara, Apunt. 

 Parag., ii, 211). 



There are other forms in other parts of South America, but these need not be men- 

 tioned separately here. 



