464 Oberholser, Notes on North American Birds. [ "^ 



average characters. It seems worth while also to call attention 

 to the point that the larger general size of Streptoceryle alcyon 

 caurina is a better and more reliable character for the identification 

 of specimens than the long wing tip, since the latter is liable to be 

 affected by the makeup of the skin. 



Tyto pratincola (Bonaparte). 



Mr. Ridgway has recently 1 placed the American Barn Owl ( Tyto 

 pratincola) as a subspecies of the South American Tyto perlata. 

 Comparison, however, of a series of specimens of Tyto pratincola 

 with examples of the European Tyto alba alba and Tyto alba guttata 

 indicates that the North American bird is only suJbspecifically 

 related to the races of Europe. It differs from Tyto alba alba in its 

 larger size, darker coloration above, and usually more ochraceous 

 suffusion below. The difference in coloration, however, is not 

 strongly marked, and is at once seen to be but average; and Tyto 

 pratincola is in this respect even more like Tyto alba guttata of 

 middle Europe than like Tyto alba alba of the Mediterranean region. 

 The larger size of the American bird is really the only striking 

 character which separates it from the European forms; but even 

 this, on comparison with a sufficient number of specimens, proves 

 to be bridged over by individual variation. In fact, many speci- 

 mens of South American races which certainly but subspecifically 

 differ from Tyto pratincola are of practically the same size as 

 European birds. There seems, therefore, no alternative but to 

 consider the American Barn Owl a subspecies of the typical Euro- 

 pean bird, and its name will therefore become Tyto alba pratincola. 



Certhia familiaris americana Bonaparte. 



In a comparatively recent publication, 2 Dr. C. E. Hellmayr has 

 treated Certhia familiaris americana and all the other American 

 forms of this genus as subspecies of Certhia brachydactyla Brehm. 



i Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 50, part VI, 1914, pp. 601, 602, 605. 

 2 Wytsman's Genera Avium, XV, 1911, p. 8. 



