14 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



laid with a tinge of fine orange-ochraceous, lighter than the tint of the upper parts ; and, 

 excepting on the jugulum, anal region, and crissjum, witl/ numerous minute but distinct 

 specks of black; under surface of wings delicate yellowish- white, the .lining sparsely 

 sprinkled with black dots ; inner webs of primaries with transverse bars of mottled dusky 

 near their ends. 



Extreme j^lumages. Darkest (No. G,884, ^, Tejon Valley, Cal; "R. S. W." Dr. 

 Heermann) : Thei-e is no white whatever on the plumage, the lower parts being con- 

 tinuous light ochraceous ; the tibiae have numerous round spots of blackish. Lightest 

 (No. 6,885, same locality) : Face and entire lower parts immaculate snowy-wdiite ; facial 

 circle white, with the tips of the feathers orange; the secondaries, primaries, and tail 

 show no bars, their surface being uniformly and finely mottled. 



Measurements ( ^, G,884, Tejon Valley, Cal. ; Dr. Heermann). Wing, 13.00 ; tail, 

 5.70; culmen, .90 ; tarsus, 2.50; middle toe, 1.25. Wing-formula, 2, 1-3. Among the 



Strix pratincola. 



very numerous specimens in the collection, there is not one marked 9 • The extremes 

 of a large series are as follows : Wing, 12.50- 14.00; tail, 5.70-7.50; culmen, .90- 1.10; 

 tarsus, 2.55 - 3.00. 



Hab. More southern portions of North America, especially near the sea-coast, from 

 the Middle States southward, and along the southern border to Cahfornia; whole of 

 Mexico. In Central America appreciably modified into var. guaiemalcB. In South Amer- 

 ica replaced by var. perlata, and in the West Indies by the quite different var. furcata. 



Locahties : Oaxaca (ScL. P. Z. S. 1859, 390) ; Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 330) ; 

 Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 49) ; ? Bahamas (Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 65). 

 Kansas (Snow, List of B. Kansas) ; Iowa (Allex, Iowa Geol. Report, II, 424). 



Tlie variations of plumage noted above appear to be of a purely individual 

 nature, since they do not depend u])on tlie locality ; nor, as far as we can 

 learn, to any considerable extent, upon age or sex. 



Habits. On tlie Atlantic coast this bird very rarely occurs north of 

 Pennsylvania. It is given by Mr. Lawrence as very rare in the vicinity of 

 New York, and in three instances, at least, it has been detected in New 

 England. An individual is said, by Eev. J. H. Linsley, to have been 

 taken in 1843, in Stratford, Conn.; another was shot at Sachem's Head in the 

 same State, October 28, 1865 ; and a third was killed in May, 1868, near 

 Springfield, Mass. 



