494 MR. O. SALVliS- ON THE AVIFAUNA 



Genus Strix. 



The most recent views unite the Bain-Owl of America with the European Stn'.v 

 fiammea, which ranges, under various names, over the whole of Asia and Australia. 

 Strix punctatissima is a distinct and peculiar species, well differentiated from the 

 widely ranging bird. 



Strix punctatissima. 

 Sti'iai punctatissima, G. R. Gray, Zool. Voy. Beagle, iii. p. 34, tab. iv. ; Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, 

 1). 323. 



6 (Indefatigable Island) supra griseo-nigricans, albo minutissime irroratus : plumis 

 singulis (remigibus et rectricibus inclusis) macula subapicali nigra, apicibus ipsis albis 

 nigro circumdatis : subtus ochrascenti-albus, nigro vermiculatus, plumis singulis macula 

 subapicali nigra, deinde macula subrotundata alba terminatis : disco faciali extus rufo, 

 gulam versus multo obscuriore, intus nigro irrorato ; facie rosaceo-alba : loris et ocu- 

 lorum ambitu fuscis : alis et cauda ochraceo-fulvis fusco vermiculatis, illis fasciis latis 

 fuscis transfasciatis : hac fasciis quatuor transversis angustis fuscis notata: tarsorum 

 dimidio antico plumato, dimidio postico et digitis plumis sparsis capilliformibus vestitis : 

 long, tota 12-0, alte 90, caudal 4'1, tarsi 2'4. 



Hab. James Island (Darwin) ; Indefatigable Island and Abingdon Island [Habel). 



Strix punctatissima is, I believe, restricted in its range to the Galapagos, though its 

 presence elsewhere has been asserted more than once. In Strickland's ' Ornithological 

 Synonyms' (p. 182) it is stated to be found at Para; but having recently examined 

 Strickland's bird I find it identical with the Australian *S'. castanops, an erroneous 

 locality having been doubtless attached to the specimen. Professor Orton, in his notes on 

 some birds in the Museum of Vassar College (Am. Nat. iv. p. 711), says that S. puncta- 

 tissima is rather abundant in the valley of Quito. I omitted to examine his specimens 

 when visiting Vassar College last year (1874), but am inclined to believe that they 

 should rather be referred to the ordinary South-American form oi S.Jlaimnea. 



Dr. Habel says : — " I only obtained two specimens of this Owl, both on Indefatigable, 

 and did not observe it on either Bindloe or Abingdon or the other islands touched at. 

 From this I gather that it is not an abundant species, unless its habit of not stirring 

 until nightfall is the reason I did not observe it oftener. Asio galapagensis came near 

 our tent soon after sundown. The food of Strix punctatissima appears to consist chiefly 

 of insects, as I found the remains of grasshoppers in their stomachs." — H. 



Genus Buteo. 



Most recent authorities place the large accipitrine bird of the Galapagos in the genus 

 Buteo, though Mr. Gould instituted a genus Craxirex^ to receive it. Under this name 

 a wide-ranging species of the American continent, C unicinctus, has been classed. In 



' Changed by Sundevall to DromoUstes, CEfvers. af K. Vet. Ak. Forh. 1874, p. 27. 



