28 Brewster on Kennicotfs Owl and some of its Allies. 



with kcnnicotti. In regard to size, the}' are fully up to the 

 standard of the latter, the difference from asio in this respect 

 beino- so decided that the smallest male of the series is consider- 

 ably larger than any female which I have from the East. More- 

 over, the purely gray style is represented by only a small propor- 

 tion of the number, the majority being more or less tinged with 

 tawny-rufous, in this as well as some other respects indicating 

 evident approaches to the supposed typical characteristics of ken- 

 nicottl. In short, the intermediate character of several of these 

 specimens is so unmistakable that, although the transition is not 

 completely shown, they furnish ample evidence that the gray form 

 actually does intergrade with brown kemticotti. 



The bearing of this testimony is not doubtful. Geographical 

 considerations preclude our regarding the two birds as allied races, 

 for one of the most typical examples of keniiicotti comes from 

 Idaho (No. 59,o6S Coll. Nat. Mus., Dr. Whitehead), while I have 

 a specimen referable to the gray condition from the coast of Oregon 

 (Portland, Capt. Bendire), thus "showing that they cannot be as- 

 sio-ned difterent habitats. Clearly, then, the only alternative remain- 

 ino- is the assumption that kenfiicotti, like asio^ is dichromatic, the 

 purely gi'ay birds from Fort Walla Walla representing the extreme 

 of one phase, as the tawny brown type probably does that of the 

 other. And considered in connection with its bearing on similarly 

 variable allied forms, the hypothesis of dichromatism certainly 

 offers a very easy and natural way out of the difficulty. Nor is 

 there anything inconsistent in the fact that one or the other style 

 apparently predominates in many sections of their mutual range, 

 and in some is perhaps the exclusive representative, for a similar 

 state of affairs is well known to obtain with other dichromatic 

 members of this genus.* 



Assuming the preceding conclusions to be granted, the gray 

 condition of kennicotti may be characterized as follows : — 



Scops asio kennicotti. Gray phase ; adult ( 5 , no. 6456 author's col- 

 lection, Fort Walla Walla, W. T., October 22, 1881, Capt. Bendire). 

 Ground-color above brownish-ash, darkest on the head, palest on the wings, 

 with confused, often nearly obsolete transverse mottling and shaft-stripes 

 of dull black, broadest and most numerous on the crown. Outer webs of 

 scapulars and alula-coverts cream-color, the former tipped and narrowly 



* Mr. Ridgway has found that fully ninety-five per cent of the Screech Owls of the 

 Wabash Valley, in southern Illinois, are red. 



