STRIGID.E: OTHER OWLS. 629 



to this solitary and stubborn reeluse. Nest usually in a hollow tree, sometimes a desei-ted 

 Hawk's or Crow's nest; eggs 2, 3, or 4, white, subspherical, about 2.00 X l-7o, laid from 

 February to April. 



S. n. al'leni. (To J. A. Allen.) Florida Barred Owl. Like nebulosa proper, but toes 

 almost eutirely naked. The feathering of the tarsus stops at the roots of the toes almost as 

 abruptly as it does in Megascons flammeola, in comparison with M. asio, though a slight strip 

 of bristly feathers ruus a little way along outside of middle toe. The barring of the breast 

 seems to be heavier, on an average. South Atlantic and Gulf States, from S. Carolina to Texas. 

 Habits like those of the common Barred Owl, but nesting earlier on an average, Jan. -Mar., 

 and eggs usually only 2 in number. (Probably S. georgiea Lath. 1801.) 

 S. n. helve'olum. (Lat. helveolus, yellowish.) Texas Barred Owl. Size of nehidosum 

 ]u-oper; toes naked as in alleni ; coloration pallid throughout in comparison with the type 

 form ; legs and feet buff or whitish, with few or none of the dusky markings of the other forms. 

 Corpus Christi, Texas. (Bangs, Pr. N. Engl. Zool. Club, i, Mar. \i\, 1899, p. 31 ; Auk, Oct. 

 1899, p. 341.) 



S. occidenta'lis. (Lat. occidentalis, western.) Western Barred Owl. Spotted Owl. 

 Xanthus Owl. Toes feathered as in S. nebulosa. Decidedly smaller than that species, 

 and otherwise readily distinguished. Ground-c<d()r of upper parts much the same, but the 

 barring broken up into spotting, for the most part ; on back and wing-coverts resulting in 

 irregular variegation, on head making small round white spots. Wings, tail, and facial disk 

 much as in nebulosa. Under parts quite diflferent, the markings being in bars everywhere, 

 with little difierence in pattern between the belly and the breast. The latter is closely and 

 regularly barred with brown and white, as in nebulosa, and if the barring is at all diflferent ou 

 belly, it is from separation of the white bars into pairs of spots, in any event very different in 

 appearance from the firm lengthwise stripes of nebulosa. The difference between the two 

 species in this regard is comj)arable to that between the Long- and Short-eared Owls. Tiie 

 lining of the wings is fully spotted with dusky on a tawny ground. The general brown color 

 of the bird is on tlie whole warmer than that of nebulosa. Length 16.00 or more ; wing 

 12.00-13.50; tail 8.00-9.00. Western U. S., southerly; has been found in Colorado, New 

 Mexico, Arizona, California (original specimen from Fort Tejou), Lower California, and 

 some parts of Mexico, and is probably not so rare as has been supposed. Habits as far 

 as known not different from those of the Barred Owl ; nest in the hollow of a tree, or built 

 on a branch, of small sticks, bark, hay and featheis ; eggs known to be 4 in one case, and 

 to be laid in April; size about 2.05 X 1.80, and shai)e thus well rounded, as usual in the 

 genus. 



S. o. cauri'nus. (Lat. caurinus, northwestern ; caurus, the northwest wind.) NORTHERN 

 Spotted Owl. Merriam's Owl. Like the last, darker and richer in coloration ; dark areas 

 larger and darker ; white markings smaller, especially on head and back, where the spotting is 

 leduced to a minimum ; primaries without whitish tips, with only an indistinct pale band 

 mixed with a little whitish on outer side of the vanes, and faint terminal edging on some of 

 tlie feathers; the 3 or 4 i)ale bars toward ends of the feathers also obsolescent. Coast region 

 ofWashingtcm and British Columbia. New to the Key. Syrnium o. caurinum Mekuia.m, 

 Auk, .Ian. 1898, p. 39; A. 0. U. Suppl. List. Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 109, No. m\) a. 

 BU'BO. (Lat. bubo, the great horned owl or "grand duke" of Europe, B. ma.nnnis. iguarus 

 or bubo.) Great Horned Owls. Eagle Owls. Hoot Owls. Grand Di'kes. Skull 

 and ear-parts symmetrical (of same size on both sides of head), the latter simply elliptical, 

 non-opcrculate, not longer than the great yellow eye, whicli is eccentric in the moder.itely de- 

 veloped facial disc (nearer its toj) than bottom). Plumiconis highly developed. Nostrils oval, 

 in edge of cere, which is not inflated, nor as long as rest of culmen ; bill robust, black, not 

 buried in frontal bristles. Wings rather short, folding slmrt of end of tail, .'M or -1th primary 



