STRIGIB^: OTHER OWLS. 507 



spicuous whitish scapular bar, as in S. asio. Tail like back, but with numerous narrow and 

 ragged cross-bars of pale rusty or whitish. Wing-quills * bitten in ' on outer webs with white 

 or buff, conspicuously soon several primaries, their inner webs with regular but narrow, distant 

 and weak bars, strengthening, however, toward the bases of the secondaries. Young birds, 

 like those of S. asio, tend to a uniform cross-barring of the whole plumage, but especially of 

 the under parts, with light and dark ; the top of the head is finely vermiculated in this manner ; 

 the chestnut first appears on the ear-coverts and about the eyes ; but in any color- variation this 

 interesting little Scops, only about as large as a Glancidium, is unmistakable. 

 A'SIO. (Lat. asio, a kind of horned owl.) Eared Owls. Marsh Owls. Skull and ear- 

 parts more or less unsymmetrical ; the conch of immense size, about as long as the skull is high, 

 furnished with a movable operculum for its full length. Eyes centric in the perfectly developed 

 facial disc. Plumicorns more or less developed. Nostrils at edge of the cere, which is some- 

 what inflated, and longer than the chord of culmen beyond it ; bill rather weak. Wings about 

 twice as long as tail, pointed, 2d primary usually longest, only 1 or 2 primaries emarginate on 

 inner webs. Feet closely feathered to the ends of the toes. Of medium size; our species 12- 

 1(3 inches long. Embracing numerous species, and nearly cosmopolitan. Our long-eared owl 

 is decidedly difl'erent from that of Europe, Asio otus, but the short-eared has not been satisfac- 

 torily distinguished from the almost cosmopolitan A. accipitrinus. 



Analysis of Species. 



Plumicorns long, many-feathered {Asio proper) wilsonianus 472 



Plumicorns short, few-feathered (Brachyotus) accipitrinus 473 



A. wilsonia'nus. (To A. Wilson. Fig. 56.) American Long-eared Owl. Ear-tufts con- 

 .spicuous, about as long as middle toe and claw, of 8-12 feathers. First primary only emargi- 

 nate on inner web. Upper parts brownish-black, minutely mottled with grayish-white, and 

 variegated with the tawny of basal portions of the feathers which comes to the surface here 

 and there; the general efiect dark, quite different from the tawny streaking of A. otus of 

 Europe. Under parts confused blackish-brown, grayish-white and tawny; on the breast 

 marbled in large pattern, for the rest with dusky shaft-lines throwing off diisky cross-bars 

 (several on each feather) on a whitish ground, and the tawny bases of the feathers showing 

 more or less; feet and crissum mostly immaculate, tawny or whitish. Quills blackish-brown, 

 regularly baiTed with mottled gray, and towards their bases with tawny, which latter forms a 

 conspicuous area on the outer webs of several primaries. Lining of wings tawny, separated 

 by a dusky area from the similar bases of the inner webs of the primaries. Tail like the 

 secondaries, dusky with gray marbled bars, and more or less tawny towards the base ; but from 

 below presenting quite liglit, with numerous firm narrow dusky bars. Facial disc mostly 

 tawny, framed all around in a blackish border speckled with whitish, and more or less black- 

 ened about the eye ; usually a whitish superciliary line ; bristles at base of bill mixed whitish 

 and blackish ; plumbeous-blackish, basally tawny, edged on one side with whitish. Bill and 

 claws blackish; iris yellow. Length 14.00-16.00; extent about 39.00; wing 11.00-12.00; 

 tail 5.50-6.50 ; tarsus 1.25-1.50 ; chord of whole culmen about 1.00. Less variable than 

 many owls, and always easy to recognize. N. Am. at large, common and generally dis- 

 tributed, resident ; perfectly nocturnal, and thus screened from casual observation, even where 

 it is numerous, but often surprised in the daytime in shady resorts, as thick bushes along 

 streams, canons, caves, etc. Nesting various, in a hollow tree or stump, rift of rock, on the 

 ground, or in deserted nests of other birds, as hawks, crows, magpies, or even herons ; usually 

 constructed with little art, as when in a hollow or on the ground, sometimes better built in 

 branches of a thick tree. Food small quadrupeds, birds, and insects. Egcs white, subspherical, 

 1.50 to 1.60 XI. 30 to 1.40. 



A. accipitri'nus. (Lat. accipitrinus, hawk-like. Fig. 355.) Short-eared Owl. Marsh 

 Owl. Ear-tufts inconspicuous, much shorter than middle toe and claw, few-feathered. First 



