772 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Nyctea nivea americana Brehm, Verz. Samml. C. L. Brehm, 1866, 2. 



[Strix] scandiaca Linn^us, Syst. Nat., ed. 12, i, 1766, 132 (Sweden; based on 

 Strix capite aurito, corpore albido Linnaeus, Fauna Suecica, 16). — Latham, 

 Index Om., i, 1790, 53. 



Strix scandiaca Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., ix, 1817, 600. — Nuttall, Man. 

 Orn. U. S. and Can., Water Birds, 1834, 561; Land Birds, ed. 2, 1840, 133.— 

 Malmgren, Journ. fiir Om., 1865, 396. 



Nyctea scandiaca Newton, ed. Yarrell'a Hist. Brit. Birds, iii, 1872, 187. — Dresser, 

 Birds Europe, v, pt. xxiii-xxiv, 1873, 287. — Coues, Birds Northwest, 1874, 

 309; Check List, 2d ed., 1882, no. 479.— Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., ii, 1875, 

 125.— Deane, BuU. Nutt. Orn. Club, ii, 1877, 9 (New England records for 

 winter of 1876-77).— Feilden, Proc. ZooL Soc. Lond., 1877, 31 (North Polar 

 Basin), 403 (Grinnell Land, lat. 82° 27^ to 82° 40^; Discovery Bay, lat. 81° 

 440-— RiDGWAY, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., iii, 1880, 192; Norn. N. Am. Birds, 

 1881, no. 406.— Bendire, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vii, 1882, 58 (Ft. Walla 

 Walla, Washington).— Nelson, Cruise "Corwin" in 1881 (1883), 76 (resident 

 in Alaska from mouth of Kuskoquim R. northward; habits). — McLenegan, 

 Cruise of "Corwin," 1884, 117 (Kowak R., n. w. Alaska; habits). — Reid, 

 Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 25, 1884, 216 (Bermudas; 2 specs, autumn 1843; 

 1 spec, Nov. 29, 1853). 



N[yctea] scandiaca Coues, Key N. Am. Birds, 2d ed., 1884, 510. 



[Nyctea scandiaca] var. scandiaca Ridgway, in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. 

 N. Am. Birds, iii, 1874, 61. 



Nyctea scandiaca, var. arctica Ridgway, in Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, Hist. N. 

 Am. Birds, iii, 1874, 70 (ex Stnx arcticus, capite levi, corpore toto niveo, the 

 great white owl, Bartrara, Travels, 289). 



Nyctea scandiaca arctica Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., no. 20, 1S83, 331. 



B[ubo] scandiaca . . . var. arctica Ridgway, Ann. Lye. N. Y., x, Jan., 1874, 379 

 (Illinois). 



Nyctia arctica Bendire, Proc. Bost. Soc. N. H., xix, 1877, 132 (Camp Harney, 

 Oregon). 



Bubo nycterus Pycraft, Trans. Linn. Soc. Lond., sec. ser., vii, 1898, 241. 



Genus SURNIA Dumeril. 



Sumia Dumeril, Zool. Analytique, 1806, 34. (Type, as designated by Gray, 



1841, Strix ulula Linnaeus.) 

 Nycthierax a Sundevall, Met. Nat. Av. Disp. Tent., 1873, 106. (New name for 



Sumia Dumeril.) 



Medium sized Bubonidae (wing about 218-251 mm.) without ear- 

 tufts; with long and graduated tail, straight and narrow-tipped 

 primaries, and very densely feathered toes. 



Bill strong, the mandibular tomium with a very distinct terminal 

 notch; cere on top much shorter than chord of culmon, straight, 

 slightly ascending basally. Nostril relatively small, rather narrowly 

 oval or elliptical, obliquely vertical, opening near middle of anterior 

 edge of cere. External ear-openings rather small, vertically elliptical, 

 symmetrical, without marginal flap or transverse ligament, the 

 greatest diameter slightly less than diameter of eye, the upper end 

 about opposite middle of the latter, the lower nearly on a line with 



" vu^ nox et Upa^, accipiter. (Sundevall.) 



