51 



GENUS SCOTIAPTERYX SWAIXSON. 



138. Scotiapteryx cinerea ( Gmd.). GREAT GRAY OWL. 



Rare winter visitor. Has been reported from Franklin County, where Mr. E. 

 E. Quick notes its capture several years ago. u Rare winter visitant in the north 

 part of the State." ( Brayton.) 



GENUS NYCTALA BREHU. 

 :: 139. Nyctala acadica ( Gmel.). SAW WHET OWL; ACADIAN OWL. 



Winter resident southward, of irregular occurrence, usually rare. Probably 

 resident northward. Breeds. Prof. B. W. Evermann thus de s cribes finding its 

 nest in Carroll County, May 8, 1883 : " In an old thicket near Burlington I found 

 six young Saw-whets in a hole in a dead elm. The hole was about twenty feet 

 from the ground and the young Owls were able to fly quite well." ( The Auk, Oc- 

 tober, 1888, p. 351.) They, too, are comparatively numerous some years. In the 

 winter of 1886-7 they were quite generally distributed over the State, and were by 

 no means rare. Dr. A. W. Brayton informs me that winter they were rather com- 

 mon in Indianapolis. 



GENUS MEGASCOPS KAUP. 



*140. Megascops asio (Linn.). SCREECH OWL; LITTLE RED OWL; LITTLE GRAY OWL; 

 MOTTLED OWL. 



Screech Owl. 



Common resident. Breeds. They vary in number?. Some years in winter 

 they are actually abundant. The fact that this species is found in both the red 

 and gray plumage leads many to think they are distinct forms; such is not the 

 case. Mr. Ridgway has shown that in the Wabash Valley fully 95 per cent, of 

 the Screech Owls are red. He intimates that the number of red forms may bear a 



