636 SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. —RAPTORES — STRIGES. 



ia Biol. Centr. Amer. Aves, iii, Nov. 1897, p. 16. The slight feathering of the toes iudicates 

 au approach to the following section of the genus. 



(Subgenus Psiloscops.) 



M. (P.) flamme'ola. (hn.t. flammeola, here signifying a little reddish thing.) Flammulated 

 Screech Owl. A small species, with much the general aspect of an uugrown asio; but sub- 

 generically distinct from any form of asio. The close feathering of the tarsus stops abruptly at 

 bases of toes, which are naked, and the plumicorns are quite short (afibrding characters of sub- 

 genus Psiloscojjs). Length 6.50-7.00; wing 5.25-5.50; tail 2.75; tarsus 0.90; culmen, with- 

 out cere, 0.35; middle toe, without claw, 0.55. Adult ^ 9- Facial disc, sometimes whole 

 head, rusty-rufous, or light chestnut, speckled with black, on top of head also with white, tend- 

 ing to form a superciliary stripe. Ground of under parts white, but heavily overlaid with shaft- 

 stripes or blotches of black giving oif irregular cross- waves, on the breast tinged with rusty-rufous 

 here and there ; tarsi white, speckled with dusky. Upper parts minutely dappled with dark 

 brown and hoary-gray, and with ragged dark shaft-stripes ; a conspicuous whitish or tawny and 

 white scapular bar, as in 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, con- 

 spicuously so on several primaries, their inner webs with regular but narrow, distant and weak 

 bars, strengthening, however, toward bases of secondaries. Young ])irds, like those of asio, 

 tend to a uniform cross-barring of the whole plumage, but especially of the under parts, with 

 light and dark ; top of head finely vermiculated in this manner ; chestnut first appears on ear- 

 coverts and about eyes. The species is dichromatic, and in the red phase parts which are brown 

 or gray in the other phase are rich buff or orange-rufous ; but the peculiar pattern of coloration 

 persists, and in any color-variation this interesting little scops, only about as large as a Glait- 

 cidium, is unmistakable. This is our nearest representative of the European "petit due" or 

 " dukelet," commonly called ScojJS giu. From the highlands of Guatemala and Mexico it ex- 

 tends northward to the mountains of Colorado, and in California to Fort Crook ; resident, breed- 

 ing up to 10,000 feet, in Woodpeckers' holes in trees, May and June; eggs 3-4, 1.15 X 0.95. 

 M. f. idahoen'sis. (Lat. of Idaho.) DwARF ScREECH OwL. Like the last, but still 

 smaller ; wing about 5.00. Coloration paler, especially on the under parts, where the ground 

 is white, with fine and distant dark vermiculation, and the heavier lengthwise black markings 

 are mainly restricted to a single series on each side ; chin white ; facial disc bright tawny 

 ochraceous, with much less conspicuous dark markings than in flammeola. Upper parts 

 nearly as in the last. Type specimen adult $ from Ketchum, Alturus Co., Idah<j, Sept. 22, 

 1890. Idaho and eastern Washington. If the chai'acters hold true, when specimens enough 

 shall have been examined, it will rank as a good species. Merriam, North American Fauna, 

 No. 5, July, 1891, p. 96, pi. 1; Auk, Api\ 1892, p. 169, pi. 2; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, 

 No. 374 a. 



SCOTIAP'TEX. (Gr. a-Korla, skotia, darkness, gloom; rest of word uncertain, probably per- 

 verted from ptynx, Gr. Trrvy^, x>tugx, the eagle-owl. If so, the correct form of the word would 

 be Scotioptgnx, and its grammatical gender feminine.) Great Gray Owls. Lapp Owls. 

 General characters of Strix proper (from which not separated till the 4th ed. of the Key, p. 904, 

 1890.) Size very great ; but the apparent dimensions are in part due to the remarkably copi- 

 ous lax plumage, the bird being notably small-bodied in comparison with its linear measure- 

 ments; length 2 feet or more. Coloration diffuse, of blended brown, gray, and whitish, the 

 dark markings in excess of the light ones, and forming streaks lengthwise on the breast, but 

 cross-bars on the flanks. Bill and feet small, the former almost buried in the facial disk, the 

 latter densely clothed with shaggy feathers ; eyes also small, for an Owl, with yellow irides. 

 Six primaries emarginate. One species, of circumpolar distribution. (Scotiaptex Swains. 

 Class B, ii, 1837, p. 217, usually considered a synonym of ^' Si/rnium," i. e. of Strix proper.) 



