o ASIONID^. 



Guatemala, Volcan de Agua (0. S. & F. D. G. ^^). — South America generally,, 

 to Chili and the Falkland Islands ^ ; Cuba ^^ ; Pubbto Eico ". 



It is now generally admitted that Asio accipitrinus is incapable of being divided inta 

 races, notwithstanding its very extensive range ; and that the Otus cassini of Brewer,, 

 by which name the American bird was sought to be distinguished, has no definite 

 characters to separate it from the Old-World bird. 



The habits of this Owl have been described in many works, and there is no need ta 

 repeat them here ; suffice it to say that its occurrence in grassy tracts of any extent 

 may be looked for, but it is very uncertain in its movements. The only specimens we 

 obtained during our visits to Guatemala were two brought us by Indians, who said 

 they shot them in the rough grass which, with scattered pines, covers the upper 

 portion of the Volcan de Agua above an elevation of 10,000 feet, the limit of the 

 forest of mixed trees. 



We find no records of its occurrence in any other part of Central America, but it has 

 been traced through a great part of South America from Colombia to the Falkland 

 Islands. 



The late Captain Bendire's account of the Short-eared Owl in North America is one 

 of the most recent and complete, and should be read ^. Dr. Fisher's work should also 

 be consulted ^. The last-named author examined the food of upwards of 100 individuals,, 

 and found it to consist chiefly of mice and other small mammals ; a few small birds 

 were consumed and some insects. 



Non cornuti. 



SYENIUM. 



Syrnium, Savigny, Syst. Ois. Egypte^ p. 9 (1810) ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 244 (partim). 



Dr. Sharpe united Ciccaba with Syrnium in his ' Catalogue of Birds in the British 

 Museum,' but we doubt the correctness of this view, and we revert to the arrangement 

 of the ' Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium,' in which the species with a large ear- 

 orifice {Syrnium) are kept quite distinct from those which have a small ear-opening 

 (Ciccaba), both genera being without any trace of feathered ear-tufts. 



Thus restricted Syrnium is represented in our region by three species, all of them 

 of northern affinity and allied to the well-known Barred Owl of North America 

 Syrnium nebulosum, which takes the place of S. aluco of Europe, though not nearly 

 allied. 



Two of the three species are found in Mexico and one in Guatemala, but the genus 

 is unrepresented in the other Central-American republics. 



