22 ASIONID^. 



authority for saying that the type of the latter is not separable from the Guatemala 

 bird S. guatemaloe. There remains S. cassini, which Mr. Kidgway considers a very 

 distinct species, the only specimens of which he has seen came from the State of Vera 

 Cruz. One of the types (no. 33556) he has kindly sent us for examination, and in our 

 opinion it does not differ more widely from some specimens of S. guatenial(B than they 

 do from one another. But as our series of skins from Vera Cruz is limited to a 

 specimen from Huatusco, and one in hepatic plumage from Jalapa, we do not feel in a 

 position to form a decision on the subject. Whether the acquisition of a good series 

 of specimens will show that two species of this form of Scops are found in Vera Cruz, 

 we venture to think very doubtful. In the meantime we append Mr. Ridgway's 

 original description of his Scops hrasilianus, e. cassini*. 



The range of S. guatemaloe extends over the hotter parts of Southern Mexico, being 

 found, as already stated, in Vera Cruz ; it also occurs on the eastern side of the Isthmus 

 of Tehuantepec, in Yucatan, all over Eastern Guatemala, and thence southwards, 

 probably uninterruptedly, through the fcrest-region to Costa Rica, Panama, and Eastern 

 Ecuador. In Guiana an allied form occurs which we described recently as Scops 

 roraimce, and this is found in company with the true ;S'. hrasilianus, the two keeping 

 quite distinct. 



7. Scops brasilianus. 



Strioc brasiliana, Gm. Syst. Nat. i. p. 289 '. 



Scops hrasilianus, Scl. & Salv. P. Z. S. 1868^ p. 57°; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 108'; 

 Ridgw. Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 90 \ 



Supra brunneus, fusco vermiculatus et cervino maculatis, plumis omnibus medialiter nigris : snbtus albus, 

 plumis omnibus medialiter cervinis, rhachidibus distincte nigris et fasciis angustis nigris irregularibus 

 distincte notatis ; faciei lateribus distincte nigro marginatis. Long tota circa lO'O, alae 6-7, caudse 3-5, 

 tarsi 1*25. (Descr. maris ex Eoraima, Brit. Guiana. Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Costa Rica, San Jose (Zeledon). — South America generally, from Colombia to 

 South Brazil and Paraguay ^. 



Our authority for the occurrence of this South-American Scops Owl in our fauna is 

 Mr. Ridgway, who states that he has in the United States National Museum a good 

 series of specimens both from Costa Rica and South America, and that he is unable 



* " Habitat. — Eastern Mexico (Mirador ; Jalapa). 



" Diagnosis.— Wing, 5-80-6-10 ; tail, 3-20-3-50 ; culmen, •45--50 ; tarsus, 1-20 ; middle toe, -80. 



" Grei/ phase : adult. — Above greyish-brown, finely mottled with lighter and darker shades, the general dusky 

 brownish line interrupted by two conspicuous lighter bands, one across the nape, and another across the 

 occiput, where the pale brownish-buff spots are very large and the darker markings correspondingly reduced 

 in size. Beneath whitish, the feathers with ragged mesial streaks of blackish and transverse vermiculations 

 of the same. 



" Mufous phase : adult. — Above cinnamon-rufous, with blackish shaft-streaks. Beneath white, with blackish 

 mesial streaks and irregular transverse base of rufous and blackish.'' (Pr. TJ. S. Nat. Mus. i. p. 102.) 



Mr. Eidgway goes on to compare his specimens with S. hrasilianus and S. atricapillus. 



