814 BULLETIN 60, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



dd. Wing averaging 147, tail 63.5, tarsus 40.7; coloration averaging lighter, 



with lighter spots on upper parts larger. (Margarita Island, Venezuela.) 



Speotyto cunicularia brachyptera (extralimital).a 



66. Under wing-coverts spotted with brown, at least toward edge of wing; ground 



color of under parts with less of buffy (predominantly dull white), that of 



upper parts less buffy brown, with lighter spots less buffy (dull white). 



{Speotyto floridana.)b 



c. Larger (wing averaging about 164, tail about 76, tarsus more than 43); under 



parts less extensively barred, and with less of white spotting or barring on 



chest. (Florida and Bahama Islands.) 



Speotyto floridana floridana (p. 820). 



cc. Smaller (wing averaging about 157, tail about 73, tarsus less than 42); under 



parts more extensively barred, and with more white spotting or barring on 



chest. (Haiti.) Speotyto floridana dominicensis (p. 823). 



aa. Coloration darker, the groxmd color of upper parts either darker or more reddish 



brown (light to very dark Vandyke), with white spots averaging smaller, less 



numerous, and more buffy or cinnamomeous; no whitish superciliary stripe; 



lighter spots on outer webs of primaries smaller; imder parts more deeply 



buffy; third and fourth primaries longest. {Speotyto guadeloupensis .) 



b. Much lighter brown above (light Vandyke), the bars on under parts also lighter 



in color; larger (wing averaging 160, tail 79.5, culmen, from cere, 15.2, tarsus 



44.2, middle toe 21.5). (Island of Guadeloupe, Lesser Antilles.) 



Speotyto guadeloupensis guadeloupensis (p. 824). 

 66. Much darker brown above (very dark vandyke), the bars on under parts also 

 darker; smaller (wing averaging 150, tail 73, culmen, from cere, 14.5, tarsus 

 37.3, middle toe 20.8). (Islands of Antigua and Nevis, Lesser Antilles.) 



Speotyto guadeloupensis amaura (p. 825). 



SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA HYPOG.SA (Bonaparte). 



BURROWING OWL. 



Similar to S. c. cuniculana,'' but averaging decidedly smaller, and 

 buffy spots on upper parts relatively smaller. 



Adults {sexes alike). — Above brown (buffy wood brown to deep 

 bister or warm sepia), spotted, more or less profusely, with pale 

 brownish buff to dull buffy white, the spots largest on back, scapulars, 

 and wing-coverts, where often of roundish or transversely ovate form, 

 and on hindneck, where mostly longitudinal, '^ smaller on pileum, 



a Speotyto brachyptera Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xviii, no. 1093, Aug. 12, 

 1896, 663 (Margarita I., Venezuela; coll. U. S. Nat. Mus.). 



& Considering all the facts in the case, I think it best to consider S. floridana and 

 S. guadeloupensis as specifically distinct from S. cunicularia. Undoubtedly the 

 Florida-Bahama form is much more closely related to the Haitian one (S. f. domin- 

 icensis) than to any other, and no doubt the Florida bird reached the peninsula \4a the 

 Bahama Islands, and not from western United States or Mexico. The birds from 

 the Lesser Antilles (S. guadeloupensis and S. g. amaura) are very different from both 

 >S. floridana and aS. cunicularia, and should, in my opinion, be regarded as a distinct 

 species. 



c See p. 813. 



^ The form, as well as the size of the spots, varies greatly in different specimens. 



