14 



ASIONID^. 



LOPHOSTEIX. 



Lophostriso, Lesson, Compl. Buffon, vii. p. 261 (1836). 

 Scops, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 43 (partim). 



Though united to Scops by Dr. Sharpe, we think that Lophostrix may well be kept 

 separate on account of the larger size of its two species, their totally different style of 

 coloration, and the very long ear-tufts, which are rendered very conspicuous by being, 

 to a great extent, pure white. 



Only two species are known, viz. L. cristata, which ranges over the northern part of 

 South America, from Colombia to Guiana, and throughout the Amazons valley to 

 Ecuador and Peru, and L. stricklandi, which is strictly Central American, as shown below. 



1. Lophostrix stricklandi. 



Scops cristata, var., Strickl. Contr. Orn. 1848, p. 60, t. 10 \ 



Lophostrix stricklandi, Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 221 ' ; Salv. P. Z. S. 1867, p. 158 ' ; 1870, 



p. 216 * ; Cat. Strickl. Coll. p. 474 ' ; Lawr. Ann. Lye. N. Y. ix. p. 132 ' ; v. Frantz. 



J. £. Orn. 1869, p. 367 ' ; Boncard, P. Z. S, 1878, p. 45 " ; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 237 ' ; 



Zeledon, An. Mus. Nac. Costa Eica, 1887, p. 125 '°; Cherrie, Auk, 1892, p. 327 ". 

 Scops stricklandi, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 124 '*. 



Supra ohocolatino-brunnea, fusco minutissime irrorata ; capifce toto summo nigricanti-brunneo, fronte stricte alba, 

 superciliis et plumis auricularibus in pogonio interno albis, genis nigris, plaga magna infra oculos rufa : 

 corpore subtus cervino-brunneo, fusco irrorato ; primariis in pogonio externo albido fasciatis, scapularibus 

 et tectricibus externis albo maculatk, subalaribus pallide fulvis fusco maculatis ; cauda saturate cinna- 

 momea, subtus ad basin cervino fasciata. Long, fcota circa 15-0, alae 12*0, caudae 7-5, tarsi 1-6. (Descr. 

 exempl. ex Guatemala. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Mexico, Villa Alta [M. Trujillo), Cacoprieto {Sumichrast^) ; Guatemala, Cohan 

 {Billwyn ^ ^), Vera Paz [Skinner^), San Pedro Martyr {0. S. & F. D. G.); Costa 

 Rica {Hoffmann''), San Jose {v. Frantzius^, Zeledon ^°, Cherrie ^^), San Carlos 

 {Boucard ^), Santa Ana {Zeledon ^'^) ; Panama {mus. Bothschild), Bugaba \ Santa 

 Fe 3, Vivala {Arce). 



This Owl is the Central-American form of a bird long ago described by Daudin as 

 Strix cristata, which subsequently was made the type of the genus Lophostrix by 

 Lesson. The differences whereby they may be distinguished were pointed out by 

 Strickland S who figured a Guatemala bird sent him by Mr. L. L. Dillwyn from Cohan 

 in 1848 5. The two birds are much alike, but the Central-American form has less white 

 on the forehead, a darker head, and the ear-coverts broadly edged with black. 



Lophostrix stricklandi occurs sparingly wherever it is found. It reaches Southern 

 Mexico in its northern range, having been met with by Trujillo at Villa Alta in 

 Oaxaca, and by Sumichrast on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Besides the specimen 

 from Cohan already mentioned, which is now in the Cambridge Museum, we have 

 seen others from Vera Paz sent by Skinner; it also occurs in the forests of the 

 mountains trending to the Pacific, whence two birds were brought us on October 11 



