strigid.t:-tiie owls. 



89 



naked heliiml ; toes scantily liairod. Tail short, li-ss than half the wing, nearly even, or 

 very sh-htly iouii.UmI. Three outer iiiiills with their inner webs emarginated ; second 

 to fourth loii-esl. K„ .onili very small, simple, roundish. Diurnal and terrestrial. 



Tliis oeiius is puciiliar tu America, wliero it i.s distributed over the whole 

 of tlie sduthen: and the western lialf of tlie northern continent, as well as 

 in some of the West India Islands. Tiiere appears to be but one well- 

 characterized siiecies.i tliis one modified into representative races in the 

 several geographical provinces over wliich it ranges. The species is terres- 

 trial, inhabiting the abandoned burrows of Armadillos and Rodents. It is 



S/ieotyto hypostea, 



diurnal, possessing as much freedom of sight, hearing, and motion in the 

 brightest sunlight, as any species of the Fnlconidcc. 



Species and Races. 



S. cunicularia. Colois unilier-hrown and oehraeeous-whitc, the former 

 predominaliiiL!- aliuve, the lalter prevailinj; below. Upper parts spotted with 

 whitish ; io«er parts transveisely barred with brown on the breast and 

 sides, and sometimes on the abdomen. A white jrular patch, and ju!?ular 

 collar, with a brown band between them. Legs, erissum. anal and femoral 

 regions, always inimaiiilafe. 



A. Primaries with liroad regular bars of oehracoous-whito on both 

 webs; primary eoverls uitii large spots of the same. 



IJrown markings of the lower parts irregularly trp.nsverso, and 

 ragged. While spots on the upper parts nearly equal in extent to 

 the brown. 



Wing, O.lo- 0.40: tail, 2.00 -.100; eulmen, .58 - .02 ; tarsus, 

 LaO-L80; middle toe, .0."). Hah. Peru . . \nv. graHnria.* 



' Hrny, in his " Hand List," gives in addition .S'. fiincrt, Vii'.ili,., a West Indian (" Antilles ") 

 species, wliii.li ]pr(>vcs to lie not iiinfiiiicric with -S'. CHnifuliirin, and nl.so S. dumingcn.iis (Gm.) 

 Ml-'!.!,., wliicli I cannot iilcntil'y as one of the raeesof ,S'. rnniciihirin. 



'^ iSjicoli/ti) cuniciilxriii, var. (iiui/lnriir > 1 SIri.r iirnUnrid, Srix, Av. Braz. I, 21, 1824. — 

 ? Tkm. pi. Col. 140. I am liy no means safisfu'd that this form is the true ijmllnria, but it 

 seems to eonie nearer to it than any other desrribed. Three speeinnMis (two from Peru, in the 

 National Museiun, and oni', without label, in the Museum of the IJoston Society of Natural 

 History) liavu betMi e.\amined, and agree in the characters diagnosed above. 



VOL. m. 12 



