STRIGID^ — THE OWLS. 



63 



Bilbo virsinianus. 



crescent of black bordering the upper eyelid, and confluent with the black of the ear- 

 tufts. Facial circle continuous black, except across the foreneck ; chin, throat, and 

 jugulum pure immaculate 

 white, to the roots of the 

 feathers. Beneath, white 

 prevails, but the yellowish- 

 rufous is prevalent on the 

 sides of the breast, and 

 shows as the base color 

 wherever the feathers are 

 disarranged. The sides of 

 the breast, sides, and flanks 

 have numerous sharply 

 defined narrow transverse 

 bars of brownish-black ; 

 anteriorly these are finer and more ragged, becoming coalesced so as to form conspicuous, 

 somewhat longitudinal, black spots. On the lower tail-coverts the bars are distant, though 

 not less sharply defined. The abdomen medially is scarcely maculate white. Legs and 

 toes plain ochraceous-white. 



Wing-formula, 2, .3-4-1, 5. Wing, 14.50; tail, 8.20 ; culmen, 1.10; tarsus, 2.00; 

 middle toe, 2.00. 



9 (12,065, Maryland ; R. J. Pollard). General appearance same as the male. Black 

 blotches on head above and nape less conspicuous, the surface being mottled like the 

 back, etc. ; primary coverts with three well-defined narrow pure black bands ; primaries 

 with only six bands, these .broader than in the male ; secondaries with only five bands ; 

 tail with but six dark bands, these very much narrower than the light ones. Tibias and 

 tarsi with sparse transverse bars of dusky. Wing-formula, 3, 2, 4 - 1 •= 5. Wing, 16.00; 

 tail, 9 00 ; culmen, 1.20 ; tarsus, 2.20 ; middle toe, 2.10. 



Yoxng. Wings and tail as in adult. Downy plumage of head and body ochraceous, 

 with detached, rather distant, transverse bars of dusky. (12,062, Washington, D. C, 

 May 20, 18.59 ; C. Drexler.) 



Hab. Eastern North America, south of Labrador ; west to the Missouri ; south through 

 Atlantic region of Mexico to Costa Rica ; Jamaica (Gosse). 



Localities : (?) Oaxaca (Scl. 1859, 390 ; possibly var. ardicus) ; Guatemala (Sol. Ibis, 

 I. 222) ; Jamaica (Gosse, 23) ; Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 330, breeds) ; Costa Rica 

 (L.\wR. IX, 132). 



Specimens from the regions indicated vary but little, tlie only two possess- 

 ing differences of any note being one (58,747,^ S) from Southern Illinois, 

 and one (33,218, San Jose; J. Carmiol) from Costa Eiea. The first differs 

 from all those from the eastern United States in much deeper and darker 

 shades of color, the rufous predominant below, the legs and crissuni lieing 

 of quite a deep shade of this color ; the transverse bars beneath are also 

 very l:)road and pure black. This specimen is more like i\.udubon's figure 

 tlian any other, and may possibly represent the peculiar style of the Lower 

 Mississi})})i region. The Costa Eica bird is remarkable for the predomi- 

 nance of the ritfous on all parts of the plumage ; the legs, however, are 



^ No. 559, collection of R. Ridgway (^, Jlt. Carnicl, Wabash County, Southern Illinois, Oc- 

 tober 14, 1869). 22^-54. Weight, 'Zh lbs. ; bill black ; iris gamboge-yellow; toes ashy ; claws 

 horn-color, black at ends. 



