ICJ. Stone, North American Horned Owls. |_ April 



following data in the hand of John Cassin : " Bubo subarcticus 

 Hoy, Racine, Wisconsin. Original specimen described by Dr. 

 Hoy and presented by him 1853. J. C." The description is in 

 the ' Proceedings' of the Academy for 1852, p. 211, and evidently 

 refers to the specimen in question. 



This specimen at once struck me as being much lighter in color 

 than any examples of subarcticus that I had examined ; in fact it 

 seemed nearer to the description of arcticus as given in the books. 

 Not having any specimens of undoubted arcticus for comparison, 

 and the figure of this form in ' Fauna Boreali-Americana ' being 

 still lighter than the specimen in hand, I let the matter stand 

 until I had an opportunity to make direct comparison. 



Recently I showed the specimen to Mr. Leverett M. Loomis, 

 who agreed with me that it must be very close to arcticus. A few 

 days later, while together in Washington, we examined specimens 

 of arcticus in the National Museum Collection and concluded that 

 the type of subarcticus was identical with them. 



To make matters sure, however, I sent the type specimen to 

 Mr. Robert Ridgway, on my return to Philadelphia, and after 

 making a careful comparison, he writes me : " The bird is un- 

 questionably referable to arcticus Swainson, agreeing closely with 

 specimens in our collection from Winnipeg. It is darker than the 

 specimen described and figured in the ' Fauna Boreali-Americana, ' 

 which seems to have been an exceptionally light-colored example." 



As a result of this investigation the name " Bubo subarcticus 

 Hoy " will have to become a synonym of Bubo virginianus arcticus 

 (Swainson), leaving the form from the Great Plains and south- 

 western United States, which was formerly known as Bubo virgin- 

 ianus subarcticus (Hoy), to be renamed. So far as I can ascertain, 

 the only other name that has been proposed for the western 

 Horned Owl is pacificus Cassin, 'Illustrations of the Birds of Cali- 

 fornia, Texas,' etc.,* p. 178. 



Cassin here recognizes three varieties of Bubo virginianus, — 

 (1) at/anticus, the eastern bird, (2) pacificus, the western, and (3) 

 arcticus Swains., the northern form. He very properly suggests 

 that subarcticus Hoy is a synonym of arcticus Swains., which 

 suggestion has been ignored by subsequent writers. The names 

 at/anticus and pacificus were here proposed for the first time. The 



