steigid^t:, owls. — gen. 141», 150. 207 



U. S. l)order; Arizona {Bendire). Coues, Am. Nat. vi, 370. (Described 

 I'roni extra-limital specimens, No. 58,229, Mazatlan, and 43,055, Costa llica, 

 transmitted l)y the Smithsonian for the purpose.) . . . FEr.EUGiNEUM. 



. I -149. Genus MICEATHENE Coues. 



2 3' 



"^ WJiUneifs Owl. Above light brown, thickly dotted with angular paler 



brown marks, the back also obsoletely marljled with darker ; a concealed 

 white cervical collar, forming a bar across the middle of the feathers, which 

 are plumbeous at base and brown at tip ; quills with 3-6 spots on each wel.i, 

 white on the inner webs of all and outer webs of several, brown on the rest; 

 coverts with two rows of white spots, brown spots intervening; outer 

 secondaries with a few white spots, and scapulars showing a white stripe ; 

 lower wing coverts tawny white, with a dark Ijrown patch ; other wing- 

 feathers dark brown with pale ashy dots near the ends of the secondaries ; 

 tail feathers with light spots forming five broken bars, and a njirrow terminal 

 bar; feathers over eyes white, with black-spotted sliaft; under eyes light 

 lirown obsoletely bari'cd with darker; bristles about the bill black on their 

 terminal half; chin and throat white, becoming light brown below, the white 

 forming a broad crescent; sides of neck narrowly barred with ashy and 

 brown, and breast imperfectl}' barred and blotched with the same, towards 

 the abdomen forming large patches, margined with gray and white ; tibial 

 narrowly Ijarred with light and dark Ijrown ; tarsal bristles whitish; bill 

 pale greenish ; iris and soles yellow. Length 6^ ; extent 15i ; wing 4J ; 

 tail 2J ; gape of bill ^j ; bill ^ high, f wide at base. Facial disk imperfect ; 

 no oar tufts ; wings very long, but rounded ; od and 4th quills longest, 2d 

 equal to 6th, 1st % the 3d; tail nearly even, with broad-tipped feathers; 

 tarsus nearly bare of feathers, sparsely bristly, like the toes; middle toe and 

 claw about as long as the tarsus; claws remarkably small, weak, and little 

 curved. Colorado Valley and southward (Fort jNlojave, Coojjer ; Southern 

 Arizona, ^e)i(in'e; INlazatlan and Socorro, Grrn^.son). A diminutive owl of 

 remarkable characters, only lately discovered. Cooper, Proc. Cala. Agad. 

 1861, 118, and B. Cal. 442; Coues, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1866, 51; Lawr., 

 Proc. Bost. Soc. 1871, p. — ; Elliot, pi. 29 whitneyi. 



150. Genus SPHEOTYTO Gloger. 



■?, '^'3^ IJurroiving Owl. Above, graj'ish-brown, with white, black-edged spots; 

 below, tawny-whitish, variegated with reddish-brown, chiefly disposed in 

 bars ; face and throat whitish ; crissum and legs mostly unmarked ; quills 

 \vith numerous paired tawny-white spots, and tail feathers barred with the 

 same; bill grayish-yellow; claws black. 9-10 long; wing 6J-7i ; tail 

 3^-4. No tufts ; facial disk imperfect ; tarsi very long, extensive!}' denuded, 

 bi'istly like the toes. Prairies and other open portions of the United States 

 west of the Mississippi, abundant; lives in holes in the ground, in prairie- 

 dog towns, aud the settlements of other burrowing animals, using their 

 deserted holes for its nesting place. There is cei'tainly but one species in this 



