STlilUID^ — THE OWLS. 



51 



Southern California by var. maccalli, in Florida by var. Jloridaiia, and on the north- 

 western count ri'jrion by var. keiinicntti. 



Localities : (V) <^'iilia (Cahanis, Journ. Ill, 4G.")). 



The above stages of plimiago have caused ornithologists a great deal 

 of puiiilcxity ; and it is only very recently that they have become cor- 

 rectly iiudersKjod. Even yet 

 many {lersist in regarding the 

 red iilumage as being that of 

 tlio young ))ii'd. 



That these two very differ- 

 ent iihimages are entirely in- 

 dependent of age, sex, or sea- 

 mm, and that they are purely 

 individual, tbere can be no 

 doubt ; since in one nest there 

 may often be found both red 

 and gray young ones, while 

 their parents may be either 

 botli red or both gray, the 

 male red antl the female gray, 

 or vice ^xrsa. Occasionally 

 specimen;) (such as No. 39,- 

 093, (? , Neosho Falls, Kansas, 

 April 13 ; jjarcnt of five eggs, 

 and captured on the nest with 

 a gray male) are exactly in- 

 termediate between these two plumages, it being difficult to decide, which 

 predominates ; tlie combination is not*only of the tints, but of the markings, 

 of tAe two stages. 



IIaiui'S. Tlie habit of all the varieties of Scops asio in their different 

 localities will be found after their zoological description. 



Scopa asio. 



Scops asio, var. floridana, Eidgway. 



Scops asio, Allen, IJull. Mus. Coinp. Zoijl. and other citations from Florida. 



Cn.\R. Similar to var. asio, hut much smaller, and the colors deeper. The gray 

 stage very similar to that of var. asio, but the red phase very appreciably dilTercnt, in 

 there being a greater amount of rufous on the lower parts, tin' breast Ijoing nearly uni- 

 formly colored, and the rufous broken elsewhere into transverse broad bars, connected 

 along the shaft. Wing, 5.50 - COO ; tail, 2.75 - 3.10. 



Hab. IHorida and Lou-er Georgia. 



This extreme southern form is nmch smaller than the more northern ones, 

 being about the same in size as the var. eiiano (see p. 1374) of Middle 



