26 ASIONID^. 



said to have come from either San Domingo or Porto Eico i. It represents a very dark 

 bird, but the terminal half of the tarsi being naked renders it more than probable that 

 a specimen of this continental species was depicted. Vieillot subsequently changed 

 his name to Strix psilopoda ^^, assigning no reason for so doing. 



Cassin identified a bird from Colombia as belonging to this species i", but the only 

 specimens we have seen have been from Costa Rica and the State of Panama. The 

 former vary to a considerable extent in their markings, some being more conspicuously 

 mottled below with white, some paler red above with more distinct dark marks, but 

 all agree in having the naked tarsus. Besides the specimens obtained for us, 

 Mr. Rothschild has several sent him by Mr. Underwood from Costa Eica. 



iVon cornuti. 



CICCABA. 



Ciccaba, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1222. 



Pulsatriw (subgenus), Kaup, Isis, 1848, p. 771. 



Syrnium, Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 24'i (partim) . 



The genus Ciccaba was founded by Wagler in 1832 with Strix huhula, Daud., as 

 the type. In the diagnosis the comparatively small size of the ear-opetiing is referred 

 to, a character at once separating Ciccaba huhula from true Syrnium. With the 

 typical form we associate, as in the ' Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium,' Ciccaba 

 virgata and its allies and also C. perspicillata, which in that work is placed in a 

 separate genus, Pulsatrix, Kaup. Should it hereafter be thought desirable to keep 

 C. virgata and its allies distinct from true Ciccaba, a separation which may be justified, 

 the name Pulsatrix may be used for C. virgata as well as C. perspicillafa, though the 

 latter remains the type. 



Ciccaba belongs to the small-eared section of the Owls, which have no ear-tufts. In 

 general appearance many of the species resemble some of the true Syrnii rather than 

 the genera which follow — Glaucidium &c. They are, moreover, much larger birds, 

 and may be distinguished at a glance. There are two well-marked sections of the 

 genus, one of which is distinguished by its black plumage relieved by white transverse 

 bars ; the other has either the mottled plumage common to so many Owls or the brown- 

 and-buflf colour distinguishing C. perspicillata and C. melanonota. 



Of the first section, one species, C. nigrolineata, ranges from Southern Mexico to 

 Colombia ; the type of Ciccaba, C. huhula, is found only in the northern portion of 

 South America : a third, C. spilonota, is also found in Colombia, but probably lives in 

 a distinct district from C. nigrolineata, divided by a high mountain-range; it is 

 intermediate between the other two, but can be easily recognized from either. 



Of the second section, C. perspicillata has a wide range in Central America and 

 reaches the Mexican State of Vera Cruz ; it also spreads over nearly the whole of 

 Tropical South America, Of our other two species, C. virgata extends far into the 



