I42 iBRtivvsTER, Descriptiofis of New Dhds. [April 



essentially pure white. Wing, 6.70; tail, 3.65; tarsus, 1.50; length of 

 bill from nostril, .47 inch. 



Habitat. — Shores and islands of Puget Sound, and southward, 

 along or near the coast, to Salem, Oregon. 



In a paper published * about niiie years ago I referred some 

 large Screech Owls taken at Fort Walla Walla by Capt. Bendire 

 to Megascops kennicotti^ assuming that they represented a hitherto 

 unrecognized gray phase of the latter. At the time this seemed 

 to be a reasonable hypothesis, for my material showed that the 

 gray and brown fonns were connected by intermediates, and indi- 

 cated that neither style of coloration was peculiar to any partic- 

 ular portion of the general region which my specimens represented. 

 Since then, however, I have become convinced, by examination 

 of a large number of skins from various localities in Oregon, 

 Washington and Briti-sh Columbia, that the gray bird found at 

 Fort Walla Walla and elsewhere in the dry, elevated region east 

 of the Cascade Mountains is really a distinct subspecies. It will 

 be remembered that among my chief reasons for originally think- 

 ing ic merely a gray phase of kennicotti were the facts that a 

 specimen in the National Museum collection labelled as collected 

 in Idaho, by Dr. Whitehead, was nearly as brown as the type of 

 kennicotti^ while I had what seemed to be the gray bird from 

 Portland, Oregon. I am now assured by Capt. Bendire, how- 

 ever, that the label of the supposed Idaho specimen is not to be 

 crusted and that the bird was undoubtedly taken near the mouth 

 of the Columbia River where Dr. Whitehead was for some time 

 stationed. Moreover the form of Megascops found on and near 

 the coast of Oregon, is shown by examination of more material 

 to be mtich smaller and, as a rule, differently colored from that 

 occurring east of the Cascade Mountains. Fiu-thermore, I now 

 have the gray phase of the coast form and it proves to be very 

 unlike the Walla Walla birds. Hence my original reference of 

 the latter to kennicotti cannot be longer sustained. 



As will appear from the diagnosis and description, M. inacfar- 

 lanei resembles M. bejidirci very closely in general color and 

 markings. Indeed the only constant difference is that of size, but 

 this is so marked that there is no difficulty whatever in separating 

 specimens which come from well within the respective habitats of 



*Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VII, Jan. 1882, pp.27-33. 



