bubonid^ — the owls. 415 



Genus MEGASCOPS Kaup. 



.5cops Savign. Desc. de I'Egypte, 1809,291. Tjxie, Strix scops Linn. (iVec Bkunn. 177'2.) 

 Mfgascops Kaup, Isis, 1848, 765. Type, Strix asio Linn. 



Gen. Chae. Small owls with distinct ear-tutts, the tarsus more or less feathered 

 (usually completely feathered) the wings ample (more than twice the length of the short, 

 sUghtly rounded tail), the plumage exceedingly variegated with vermiculations, cross- 

 bars, and mottlings;. toes naked or bristled— never completely feathered, except toward 

 the base. 



The above brief diagnosis is sufficient to characterize this group. 

 In general aspect the species of this genus are miniatures of those 

 which belong to the genus Bubo, and are perhaps as nearly related 

 structurally to the latter as to any other members of the family. 



All the American species have the outer webs of the scapulars 

 mostly light-colored (generally white, with a blackish terminal 

 border — rusty ochraceous in flammeolus and the darker forms of 

 hrasiUanus), producing a more or less distinct stripe along each 

 side of the dorsal region ; the feathers of the upper and lower parts 

 usually have blackish shaft-streaks, those beneath generally with 

 narrow transverse bars ; outer webs of the remiges with light- 

 colored spots, and the tail more or less (never sharply) banded. 

 Nearly all the species are, in some part of their range, dichromatic, 

 having a bright rufous phase, quite different from the "nonnal" 

 grayish plumage. 



Megascops asio (Linn.) 



SCREECH OWL, 

 Popular synoiiTiiis. Little Mottled Owl; Little Eed Owl. 



Strix asio Linn. S. N. ed. 12, i, 1766, 132.— Wils. Am. Orn. v, 1812,83, pi. 42, fig. 1.— Aud. 

 Orn.Biog. 1,1832,486; v, 1839, 392, pi. 97.— Nutt. Man. 1,1832, 120. 

 Scop,'! asio Bp. 1838.— Cass. In Baird's B. N, Am. 1858, 51.— Baikd, Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, 

 No. 49.— CoUES, Key, 1872, 202; Check List, 1873, No. 318; 2d ed. 1882,No. 465; B. N. W. 

 1874, 303.— B. B. & K. Hist. N. Am. B. ill. 1874, 49.— Bidgw. Nom.N.Am.B.1881,No.402. 

 Bubo asio Vielll. 1807.— Aud. Synop. 1839,29; B. Am. i, 1840, 147, pi. 40. 

 Strix ncBvia Gmel. S. N. i, pt. i, 1788, 289.— WiLS. Am. Orn. iii, 1812, 16, pi. 19, fig. 1. 



Hab. Eastern United States and British Provinces, west to edge of the Great Plains. 

 (In Florida replaced by M. asio floridanus and in southern Texas by M. asio maccalli.) 



a. Normal plumage. 



Sp. Chak. Adult. Ground-color above brownish cinereous, palest on the head, purest 

 ashy on the wings, minutely mottled with fine zigzag transverse bars of black, each 

 feather with a median ragged stripe of the same along the shaft. Inner webs of ear- 

 tufts, outer webs of scapulars, and .spots occupying most of the outer webs of the two or 

 three lower feathers of the middle and secondary wing-coverts, white, forming (except 

 on the first) conspicuous spots, those of the scapulars bordered with black. Secondaries 

 crossed with about seven regular paler bands, each enclosing a more Irregular dusky 



