STIllGII)^: OTIIEE OWLS. 505 



inner webs. TaU with light and dark bars. A large and nearly cosmopolitan genus, especially 

 rich in tropical species ; but only two are known to inhabit N. Am., one of them running 

 into several local races very difficult to characterize satisfactorily. 



Anahjsis of Species and Varieties. 



Toes bristly or partly feathered. Plumicorns conspicuous asio 465 



Dicliromatic ; red phase bright rusty. Eastern. 



Medium in size: wing usually between 6.00 and 7.00; tail about 3.50. Markings of under parts 

 coarse, irregular, and blotchy, usually wanting on miildle of belly; of upper parts fine but 



irregular, without nuchal collar. Eastern U. S. and CanaJa a.'iio 465 



Small: wing usually 5.B0-6.00; tail about 3.00. Markings as in asio, but rather heavier. Florida 



Jloridanus 469 

 Small: size ot Jloridanus. Markings of under parts fine, regular, of upper parts coarse, but reg- 

 ular, with tendency to a nuchal collar. Te.xas rnaccalU 468 



Dichromatic ; red phase rusty-brown. Northwestern. 



Large : wing usually over 7.00. In the gray phase like asio, but markings of under parts finer, 



more regular and continuous. Northwestern kennicotti 466 



Dichromatism not known to occur. Western. 



Medium; size of average asio. Markings of under parts thick, regular, continuous over the 



whole surface ; of ujiper parts exactly as in a.s'io. California hendirii 466a 



Medium : size of average asio. Markings of all parts very light, the gray pale, with much 



white, especially on wings and under parts raaxweltoi 467 



Toes perfectly naked. Plumicorns short. Southwestern fiammeola 471 



465. S. a'sio. (Lat. asio, a kind of horned owl.) Little Horned Owl. Screech Owl. 

 Mottled Owl. Red Owl. Of medium size ; length 8.00-10.00 ; extent about 22.00 ; wing 

 6.00-7.00, usually between these numbers ; tail 3. 2.5-3. .50. Gray or normal pliase, adult ^ 9 : 

 Upper parts brownish-gray in minutely dappled pattern of lighter and darker shades, every- 

 where finely but irregularly streaked with black or blackish shaft-lines, usually most evident 

 on the crown. A conspicuous oblique scapular bar formed by the white or creamy outci' wchs 

 of several scapulars, each usually touched with black at its end ; a second similar bar on outer 

 webs of several outer wing-coverts. Wing-quills dusky, the outer webs of the primaries with 

 several distinct conspicuous white or buff spots ; the inner webs of the primaries and both webs 

 of the secondaries with numerous alternating lighter and darker bars : lining of wings mostly 

 yellowish-white. Tail like the secondaries, but the liglit bars mostly ragged or dissipated in 

 marbling. Facial disc set in a blackish frame nearly all around ; mostly finely mottled, but 

 the lures and cliiu usually whitish, immaculate. Taking white as the .ground of the imder 

 parts, this is coarsely and in'egularly blotched and streaked with thick shaft-lines giving ofl' 

 numberless finer curved or wavy cross-bars ; the general aspect patchy ; the markings usually 

 wanting on the middle of the belly. Iris yellow ; bill livid or slate-gray, pale horn-color at 

 tip ; claws blackish. From this stage the ' mottled owl ' passes by insensible degrees, through 

 wood-brown, hazel-brown, and tawny into the ' red owl.' — Red or erythrismal pliase : Bright 

 rust-red, sometimes even bronzed ; most of the special markings dissipated or absorbed in the 

 red, continuous and uniform above, showing only traces if any of the black shaft -stripes ; below, 

 black stripes and blotches usually preserved, and the red also mixed with much white. The 

 dark rim of the disc, and white scapular stripes, are usually preserved. The two phases are 

 distinct from the first feathering. Nestlings are covered with white down. The first feather- 

 iug, in the normal phase, is almost everywhere closely and regularly barred or waved cross- 

 wise with dark gray and pale gray or whitish. Eastern U. S. and Canada, W. to the Rocky 

 Mts., on the confines of its range shading into the several varieties noted beyond; resident, and 

 on the whole the most abundant owl, breeding about buildings as well as in hollow trees or 

 stumps, and feeding on small quadrupeds, as mice and shrews, small birds, and insects ; nest a 

 slight structure in the hollow selected for a resident ; eggs 5 or 6, white, subspherical, 1.30 to 

 1.40 X 1.15 to 1.20. 



466. S. a. kennicot'ti. (To Robert Kennicott.) Kennicott's Screech Owl. The larger 

 northern form. Length about 11.00 ; wing usually 7.00-7.50, but grading down in some cases 



