BREWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 97 
beneath the old and faded ones indicate that the fresh plumage, when completed, 
would have been as dark as that of the other three skins. There is a specimen 
in the National Museum, however, obtained by Mr. Xantus in the Cape Region, 
which, although apparently neither worn nor faded, is nearly as light-colored 
as average examples of B. v. pallescens. Mr. Oberholser, who is at present en- 
gaged ina critical study of the entire B. virginvanus group, tells me that he has 
noted similar color variations in most of the forms which he has examined, and 
that he regards them as representing different and probably permanent color 
phases comparable to, although less conspicuous than, those which are found 
in so many of the members of the genus Megascops. 
Mr. Frazar found this Owl nearly everywhere from the coast to the tops of 
the highest mountains, but not commonly except on the Sierra de la Laguna, 
where as many as three or four were often heard hooting at once. Mr. Bel- 
ding had a similar experience, rarely meeting the bird in the low country, 
whereas it was “frequently heard and occasionally seen” at the higher eleva- 
tions. Its preference for the mountains is doubtless due to the fact that they 
afford the only extensive forests of large trees which exist in this region, for 
Bubo virginianus is comparatively indifferent to considerations of mean tem- 
perature and equally at home in subtropical, temperate, or subarctic climates. 
This, however, can be said only of the species, as the adaptation of the indi- 
vidual to extremes — whether of heat or cold, moisture or dryness — must be 
usually very gradual, for in most cases it has been accompanied by modifica- 
tions of color or physique sufficiently pronounced to distinguish birds which 
have become established in one region from those of another where the climatic 
conditions are widely different. The Horned Owls which inhabit the southern 
extremity of Lower California afford a good illustration of this fact, for, as has 
been already pointed out, they differ considerably from all the forms which 
occur in other parts of North America. I have seen no specimens from any- 
where on the Peninsula north of La Paz, and hence have no means of judging 
just how far northward the present subspecies extends, but Mr. Bryant states 
that “on the peninsula opposite Magdalena Island, I found in a giant cactus a 
bulky nest of sticks upon which could be seen two young”? Horned Owls, and 
“at Comondu an owl of this genus was several times seen at the opening of a 
small cave high up in the cliff,” while at Ubi one was heard hooting on the 
night of May 9, 1889, and at Calmalli a feather was picked up in the trail. Mr. 
. Anthony also met with Horned Owls ‘‘ among the pines on San Pedro Martir 
at 2,500 to 10,000 feet elevation” (Bryant). 
Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea (Bonap.). 
BURROWING OWL. 
Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea BetpinG, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus., V. 1883, 543 (Cape 
Region). Bryant, Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 2d ser., II. 1889, 285 (Cape 
Region). 
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