STRIGIDH, OWLS.—GEN. 149, 150. 207 
U.S. border; Arizona (Lendire). Cours, Am. Nat. vi, 8370. (Described 
from extra-limital specimens, No. 58,229, Mazatlan, and 43,055, Costa Rica, 
transmitted by the Smithsonian for the purpose.) . . . FERRUGINEUM. 
149. Genus MICRATHENE Coues. 
Whitney's Owl. Above light brown, thickly dotted with angular paler 
brown marks, the back also obsoletely marbled with darker; a concealed 
white cervical collar, forming a bar across the middle of the feathers, which 
are plumbeous at base and brown at tip; quills with 3-6 spots on each web, 
white on the inner webs of all and outer webs of several, brown on the rest ; 
coverts with two rows of white spots, brown spots intervening; outer 
secondaries with a few white spots, and scapulars showing a white stripe ; 
lower wing coverts tawny white, with a dark brown patch; other wing- 
feathers dark brown with pale ashy dots near the ends of the secondaries ; 
tail feathers with light spots forming five broken bars, and a narrow terminal 
bar; feathers over eyes white, with black-spotted shaft; under eyes light 
brown obsoletely barred with darker; bristles about the bill black on their 
terminal half; chin and throat white, becoming light brown below, the white 
forming a broad crescent; sides of neck narrowly barred with ashy and 
brown, and breast imperfectly barred and blotched with the same, towards 
the abdomen forming large patches, margined with gray «and white ; tibi 
narrowly barred with light and dark brown; tarsal bristles whitish; bill 
pale greenish; iris and soles yellow. Length 64; extent 154; wing 44; 
tail 24; gape of bill $; bill $ high, 2 wide at base. Facial disk imperfect ; 
no ear tufts; wings very long, but rounded; 3d and 4th quills longest, 2d 
equal to 6th, Ist 3 the 3d; tail nearly even, with broad-tipped feathers ; 
tarsus nearly bare of feathers, sparsely bristly, like the toes; middle toe and 
claw about as long as the tarsus; claws remarkably small, weak, and little 
curved. Colorado Valley and southward (Fort Mojave, Cooper; Southern 
Arizona, Bendire; Mazatlan and Socorro, Grayson). A diminutive owl of 
remarkable characters, only lately discovered. Cooper, Proc. Cala. Acad. 
1861, 118, and B. Cal. 442; Couns, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1866, 51; Lawr., 
roc. Bost. Soc. 1871, p.—; Extior, pl. 29. . . . .°. WHITNEYI. 
150. Genus SPHEOTYTO Gloger. 
Burrowing Owl. Above, grayish-brown, with white, black-edged spots ; 
below, tawny-whitish, variegated with reddish-brown, chiefly disposed in 
bars; face and throat whitish; crissum and legs mostly unmarked; quills 
with numerous paired tawny-white spots, and tail feathers barred with the 
same; bill grayish-yellow; claws black. 9-10 long; wing 64-74; tail 
33-4. No tufts; facial disk imperfect ; tarsi very long, extensively denuded, 
bristly like the toes. Prairies and other open portions of the United States 
west of the Mississippi, abundant; lives in holes in the ground, in prairie- 
dog towns, and the settlements of other burrowing animals, using their 
deserted holes for its nesting place. There is certainly but one species in this 
