BIRDS — ATHENINAE — ATHENE HYPUGiEA. 59 



Sub-Family ATHENINAE— T h e Bird Owls. 



Size small ; facial disc very imperfect, or nearly obsolete ; tarsi generally partially or but 

 tliinly covered with feathers ; head without ear tufts. The birds of this group are generally 

 small, and are not so nocturnal in their habits as those of the preceding divisions. 



ATHENE, Boie. 



Mhene, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 549. 

 Small ; head moderate, without ear tufls ; wings rather long ; tail rather short ; facial disc nearly obsolete. Bill short ; legs 

 ratlier long, tliinly covered with short feathers ; toes naked, or with a few hair-like feathers. This genus contains about forty 

 species of small owls inliabiling all parts of the world. 



ATHENE HYPUGiEA, Bonaparte. 



The Burrowing Owl. 



Strix hypvgaa, Bonap. Am. Orn., 1, p. 72. (1825.) 

 Athene socialis, Gahbel, Proc. Acad. Philada. Ill, p. 47. (1846.) 

 Figures. — Bonap. Am. Orn. I, pi. 7, fig. 2 ; Aud. B. of Am., pi. 432, fig. 1 : Oct. ed. 1, p. 31, (upper figure.) 



Tarsi long, slender, thinly covered in front only with short feathers, generally with its lower half nearly bare, and frequently 

 almost entirely naked, and with small circular scales laterally and posteriorly ; toes with a few hairs. 



.SduU. — Upper parts light ashy brown, with numerous partially concealed circular, cordate, and ovate spots of dull white, 

 which spots are enclosed with a narrow edge of dark brown. Throat white ; a transverse band of dark brown and reddish 

 white on the neck in front, succeeded by a large patch of white ; breast light brown, with large spots of white, like the upper 

 parts ; abdomen yellowish, with transverse narrow bands of reddish brown ; under tail coverts, feathers of the tibia and tarsus, 

 and under wing coverts yellowish white. Quills light brown, with semi-circular spots of reddish white on their outer webs, 

 and with oval or irregular spots of the same on their inner webs. Tail light brown, with about five or six irregular transverse 

 bands of yellowish while. Bill dark blueish at base, yellow at tip and on the ridge of the upper mandible. This is the most 

 mature plumage, and is that represented in Audubon's figure cited above. The most usual plumage is, however, as follows : 



Jldult. — Upper parts like the preceding, but lighter colored, and much more tinged with dull yellow, having generally a faded 

 or bleached appearance. White spots more numerous and irregular in shape, and frequently giving the predominating color 

 to the head. Rump and tail strongly tinged with reddish. Under parts like the preceding, but lighter, and with the reddish 

 brown of the abdomen assuming the form of semi circular or hastate spots. This plumage has very nearly the same characters 

 as the preceding, but is lighter and has a faded appearance, and is much the most frequently met with in S|,ecimens. This 

 plumage is not figured. 



Another plumage is : Upper pans much less tinged with yellow or reddish, being nearly light grayish brown; white spots 

 very irregular in shape. Abdomen nearly pure white, or tinged with yellowish, with traces only or but iev; spots of reddish 

 brown. This plumage is given in Bonaparte's plate, cited above ; but it is unusual for the abdomen to be so nearly pure white 

 and unspotted as represented. 



Total length, female, (of skin,) about 9^ inches, wing 7, tail 3? inches, Male, total length, about 9 inches, wing 6|, tail 

 3 inches. 



Hab. — From the Mississippi river to the Rocky mountains. Mexico. Spec, in Nat. Mus. Washington, and Mus. Acad. 

 Philadelphia. 



In this species the feathers on the tarsus are restricted to a narrow longitudinal band or stripe 

 in front, generally quite imperfect in the lower half, leaving that portion nearly bare to the 

 toes, though it is quite unusual to find the tarsus so entirely uncovered, as represented in 

 Audubon's figure cited above. This bird is rather smaller than the succeeding, and has the 

 tarsus shorter as well as much less feathered. It inhabits the countries east of the Eocky 

 mountains, while the next species appears to be formed exclusively west of the same range. 

 The two species are not difiicult to distinguish, on comparison. 



