30 BIRDS OF TIERRA DEL FUEGO 



In the Falkland Islands Abbott found it a scarce bird. 

 Durnford says it is resident but not common in Central 

 Patagonia. 



BUBO MAGELLANICUS (Gmelin) 

 Hibou des Terres Magellaniques, Bufon, Hist. Nat. Ois., i, pi. 



ccclxxxv, 1770. 



Bubo magellanicUS, Gmelin, Systema Naturce, i, p. 286, 1788; 

 B'Orhigny, Voy. Amer. Merid., Ois., p. 137, 1835; Sharps, Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mus., ii, p. 29, 1875 ; Oustalet, Miss. Sci. Gap Horn, Ois., p. 41, 1891. 



Nacurutli, Azara, Pdxaros, Paraguay y La Plata, i, p. 192, 1802. 



Bubo virginianus, Sdater and Hudson, Argentine Orn., ii, p. 50, 1889. 



Habitat. — Southern Brazil and Peru, to Tierra del Fuego. 



cJ, Useless Bay Settlement, 31st Aug., 1904. 



Iris — bright orange ; bill — dark grey ; feet — dark drab. 



Dr. Sclater and Mr. Salvin do not admit the validity of this 

 species, but include it in B. virginianus : Dr. Sharpe's distinction 

 is mainly based on the final joint of the toe being always bare, 

 sometimes the entire toe ; whereas in the northern form the toes 

 are more thickly feathered and have even the last joint hidden. 



Darwin and Durnford do not record it. 



The haunt of the Magellan Owl is open country where there 

 is scrubby undergrow^th. It is of much more nocturnal habit 

 than the Short-eared Owd and the Burrowing Owl, yet flies readily 

 in the daytime if disturbed. Its deep booming " Tuu-kukuru " is 

 commonly heard in settlements at night. If disturbed in daytime, 

 it is at no loss to protect itself, but flies readily and uegotiates 

 a long, straight, powerful flight — of, it may be, several hundred 

 yards — when it alights again, often on some coign of vantage, 

 and looks out for pursuit. I have many times failed to get within 

 shot of one when once disturbed. This specimen proved an 

 exception ; — I shot it in scrub at close quarters with so puny 

 a weapon as the •410. 



In more northerly regions this Owl's ways are some^vhat 

 otherwise, — because, no doubt, the daylight is more powerful. 



