ANDERSON — THE BIRDS OF IOWA. 265 



woods is generally indicated by the flocking and cawing of all the 

 Crows in the neighborhood. The Crows will follow an Owl from 

 place to place for hours, but their nois}' demonstrations appear to 

 cause the Owl but slight annoyance. 



168. (375a). liNboviroijiiainispal/csceiisSiowQ. Western Horned 

 Owl. 



There has been much confusion in the names of this paler-col- 

 ored variety of the Great Horned Owl, it having been variousl}^ 

 described as />. v. siibaniicus (Hoy), B. v. a rdicus Swains., B. v. 

 occidcntalis Stone, B. v. pal/csirii:^ Stone, and Asio magcUanicus Occi- 

 dent alls (Stone) Oberholser. 



Witmer Stone, in a "Revision of the N. A. Horned Owls, With 

 Description of a New Subspecies," (Auk, xiii, 1896, 153-156), pro- 

 poses the name occidentalis in place of subarctictis Hoy, the latter 

 being a synonym of arcticus Swains., selecting a type specimen 

 from Mitchell county, Iowa (No. 26435, Coll. Acad. Nat. Sci. 

 Phila., Mitchell county, Iowa, winter, 1880, coll. by W. L.Abbott), 

 "probablj' a female; measures: wing 16; culmen 1.80; tarsus (to 

 insertion of hind toe) 2.50; middle claw to sheath 1.25." Later, 

 (Am. Nat., 1897, 236-7), he says: "This specimen, however, un- 

 fortunately, proves to be intermediate between B. virghiiaims dead 

 arcticus, and does not belong to the race which I had intended to 

 rename, the latter not extending so far east (see Auk, Jan., 1897, 

 132)." He proposes for the Horned Owl of the interior United 

 SA-'S^.^'A {subarcticus oi authors) the mxa^ pallcscens. "/>'. v. palles- 

 cens is smaller and paler than the true virgiiiianns (the wing meas- 

 uring 15.75 in.), with much less rufous admixture. The barring 

 on the belly is much finer and the feet almost pure white." 



Harry C. Oberholser describes the species as Asio magellanicus 

 occidentalis (Stone), ("Revision of the Horned Owls of the Genus 

 Bubo,'" Proc. U. S. Natl. Mus., xxvii, 1904, 191), giving the range 

 of pallesccns as confined to the southwest. The geographical range 

 of occidentalis is given as "western U. S. from Minnesota and 

 Kansas to Nevada, southeastern Oregon, Utah and Montana, 

 south in winter to Iowa;" type locality, Mitchell county, Iowa; 

 also specimen from Grinnell. The Arctic Horned Owl, A. vi. 7cap- 

 acuthu, ranges from northern Canada south in winter to northern U, 

 S. from Idaho to Wisconsin. He says: ' 'The breeding bird of Iowa 

 is undoubtedly viiginianus, though occidoitalis occurs in winter." 



