BUBONIDiE — THE OWLS. 405 



arctic region, but is sufficiently distinct. Of the subgenus Brachyolus 

 there are two American species besides the nearly cosmopolitan 

 A. accvpitrinus, namely, A. galapacioensis Gould, confined to the 

 Galapagos Islands, and A. portoricensis Eidgw., peculiar to the 

 island of Porto Eico. 



Asio ■wilsonianus (Less.) 



AMERICAN LONG -EARED OWL. 



Popular synonym. Lesser Horned Owl. 



Strix otus Wlls. Am. Orn. vii,lS12. 73, pi. 51, fig. 3 {nee Linn).— Nhtt. Man. i. 18.32, 130.— 

 AUD. Orn. Biog. iv, 1835, 573, pi. 83. 

 StrU Usio) otus S-w. & Rich. F. B.-A.ii,1831,72. 

 Otus wilsoniamis Less. Traite, i. 1831,110.— Cass, in Baird's B. N. Am. 1858. 53.— Baied, 

 Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 51. 

 Otus vulgaris var. rrilsonianus Ai.l,EN,1872.— CouES,Key.l872,204; Cheek List, 1873. No. 



320.— B. B. & R. Hist. N. Am. B. iii. 1874, 18. 

 Otus vulgaris b, iDilsonianus CouEs, B. N. W. 1874, 304. 

 Asio wilsonianus CouEs, 2d Cheek List, 1882, No. 472. 

 Ottis inilgaris americanvs Schleg. 1862. (JVec Strix americana Gmel.) 

 Asio otus, subsp. a. Asio americatuis Shaepe. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii, 1875, 229. 

 Asio americanus RiDGW. Norn. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 395. 



Hab. North America in general, north to the limit of forests, south to Mexican table- 

 lands. 



Sp. Chae. Adult. Upper surface transversely mottled with blackish brown and 

 grayish white, the former predominating, especially on the dorsal region; feathers of the 

 nape and wings oehraceous beneath the surface; lower scapulars with a tew obsolete 

 spots of white on lower webs. Primary coverts dusky, with transverse series of darl; 

 mottled grayish spots, these becoming somewhat oehraceous basally; ground color of 

 the primaries grayish, this especially prevalent on the inner quills: the basal third (or 

 less) of all oehraceous, this decreasing in extent on inner feathers, the grayish tint every- 

 where finely mottled transversely with dusky, but the oehraceous unvaried; primaries 

 crossed by a series of about seven quadrate blackish brown spots, these anteriorly about 

 as wide as the intervening yellowish or mottled grayish; the interval between the pri- 

 mary coverts and the first of these spots about .80 to 1.00 inch on the fourth quill, the 

 spots on the inner and outer feathers approaching the coverts, or even underlying them ; 

 the inner primaries— or, in fact, the general exposed surface— with much narrower bars 

 of dusky. Ground color of the wings like the back, this growing paler on the outer 

 feathers, and becoming oehraceous basally, the tip approaching whitish; secondaries 

 crossed by nine or ten narrow bands of dusky. 



Ear- tufts with the lateral portion of each web oehraceous, this becoming white, some- 

 what variegated with black, toward the end of the inner webs, on which the oehraceous 

 is broadest: median portion clear, unvariegated black. Forehead and postauricular disk 

 minutely speckled with blackish and white; facial circle continuous black, becoming 

 broken into a variegated collar across the throat. "Eyebrows" and lores grayish white; 

 eye surrounded with blackish, this broadest anteriorly above and below, the posterior 

 half being like the ear-coverts. Face plain oehraceous; chin and upper part of the throat 

 immaculate white. Ground-color below pale oehraceous. the exposed surface of the 

 feathers, however, white; breast with broad longitudinal blotches of clear dark brown: 

 each feather and sides and flanks marked with a median stripe, crossed by as broad, 

 or broader, transverse bars, of blackish brown: abdomen, tibial plumes, and legs plain 

 oehraceous, becoming nearly white on the lower part of tarsus and on the toes; tibial 



