STRIGID^E — THE OWLS. 



51 



Southern California by var. maccalli, in Florida by var. floridana, and on the north- 

 western coast region by var. kennicotti. 



Localities : (?) Cuba (Cabanis, Jouru. Ill, 465). 



The above stages of plumage have caused ornithologists a great deal 

 of perplexity ; and it is only very recently that they have become cor- 

 rectly understood. Even yet 

 many persist in regarding the 

 red plumage as being that of 

 the young bird. 



That these two very differ- 

 ent plumages are entirely in- 

 dependent of age, sex, or sea- 

 son, and that they are purely 

 individual, there can be no 

 doubt ; since in one nest tliere 

 may often be found both red 

 and gray young ones, while 

 their parents may be either 

 both red or both gray, the 

 male red and the female gray, 

 or vice versa. Occasionally 

 specimens (such as No. 39,- 

 093, ^ , Neosho Falls, Kansas, 

 April 13 ; parent of five eggs, 

 and captured on the nest with 

 a gray male) are exactly in- 

 termediate between these two plumages, it being difficult to decide which 

 predominates ; the combination is not only of the tints, but of the markings, 

 of the two stages. 



Habits. The habit of all the varieties of Scojjs asio in their different 

 localities will be found after their zoological description. 



Scops asio. 



Scops asio, var. floridana, Eidgway. 



Scops asio, Allex, Bull. Miis. Comp. Zool. and other citations from Florida. 



Char. Similar to var. asio, but much smaller, and the colors deeper. The gray 

 stage very similar to that of var. asio, but the red phase very appreciably different, in 

 there being a greater amount of rufous on the lower parts, the breast being nearly uni- 

 formly colored, and the rufous broken elsewhere into transverse broad bars, connected 

 along the shaft. Wing, 5.50 - 6.00 ; tail, 2.75 - 3.10. 



Hab. Florida and Lower Georgia. 



This extreme southern form is much smaller than the more northern ones, 

 being about the same in size as the var. enano (see p. 1374) of Middle 



