FAMILY STRIGIDAE 1 49 



Downy young, dull buffy brown; upper surface, foreneck, and 

 breast barred narrowly and rather indistinctly with dull fuscous- 

 black; lower breast, abdomen, and flanks with the down feathers 

 tipped with grayish white. 



The colors of the eye, bill, and feet are similar to those of the 

 Choliba screech owl. 



Measurements. — Males (6 from Panama), wing 148.0-163.0 

 (155.0), tail 71.2-76.4 (74.1), oilmen from cere 14.0-14.9 (14.4), 

 tarsus 26.4-30.4 (28.3) mm. 



Females (8 from Panama), wing 153.3-162.2 (156.5), tail 73.1- 



Figure 21. — Vermiculated screech owl, buhito jaspeado, Otus guatemalae 

 vermiculatus. 



79 A (76.8), culmen from cere 14.0-16.7 (15.1), tarsus 27.9-30.6 

 (28.9) mm. 



Resident. Found through the Tropical Zone forests, ranging up- 

 ward to lower Subtropical Zone regions. Recorded on the Pacific 

 slope in Chiriqui (Divala, Boquete) ; Veraguas, (Calovevora, Chitra) ; 

 the eastern sector of the Province of Panama (Utive) ; Darien 

 (Jaque, Cerro Pirre, Cerro Mali, La Laguna). On the Atlantic 

 side in Bocas del Toro (Almirante, Rio Changuena) ; and in the Canal 

 Zone (Rio Trinidad, now submerged in Gatun Lake, near Trinidad 

 Island). 



The above, based on specimen records, indicates a distribution 

 throughout the Republic, but mainly in hill country. In addition, Dr. 

 Eisenmann and others have heard the calls of screech owls that they 

 attributed to this species on Barro Colorado Island. In my own obser- 

 vations I have heard them in the eastern area of the Province of 



