30 ASIONID^. 



Tehuantepec. It is found on both sides of the Central chain of the mountains of 

 Guatemala and as high as 7000 feet on the slopes of the Volcan de Fuego. 

 Mr. Eichardson has sent us specimens from San Eafael del Norte in Northern 

 Nicaragua, and Mr. Richmond found it on the Escondido river near the east coast i'^. 

 In Costa Eica Mr. Cherrie says it is tolerably common and resident near San Jose, 

 where nesting probably begins in the latter part of April, as young birds are found by 

 the 1st of June ^s. In the State of Panama it is a common bird, and we have received 

 many specimens both from Arce and M'Leannan. 



C. virgata is a very variable species both as to the general colour of its plumage and 

 to the intensity of its markings. Lawrence separated the Panama bird as Syrnium 

 lineatum *, considering it a smaller bird than C. virgata ; the upper plumage not so 

 dark, greyish, and the markings much smaller and more numerous, the under surface 

 more' rufous, with fewer and less distinct stripes. Birds with some or all of these 

 characters can be found in almost any portion of the range of the species. 



The iris of a female shot in September 1873 on the Volcan de Fuego was dark 

 brown, the food coleoptera. 



4. Ciccaba squamulata. 



Strix squamulata, Licht. in Mus. Berol.'. 



Syrnium squamulatum, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 53 ^ ; Sumichrast, La Nat. v. p. 237 ^ 



Ciccaba squamulata, Lawr. Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. no. 4, p. 37*. 



Syrnium virgatum, Lawr. Mem. Bost. Soc. N. H. ii. p. 298 \ 



C. virgatcB similis, sed supra fasciis omnibus multo magis distinctis ; subtus albicantior, striis abdominis magis 

 obviis plumarum marginibus baud fusco variegatis. (Descr. exempl. ex Tebuautepeo, Mexico. Mus. 

 nostr.) 



Hah. Mexico 1, Mazatlan {Grayson^), Presidio de Mazatlan (Forrer), Sierra de Nayarit 

 ( W. B. Richardson ; Dr. A. C. Buller, in mus. Rothschild), Hacienda de San Marcos, 

 near Zapotlan {W. Lloyd), Hacienda del Lazo, Acatan {Br. A. C. Buller, in mus. 

 Rothschild), Colima [Xantus ^), Plains of Colima, Tehuantepec ( W. B. Richardson), 

 Tehuantepec city {Sumichrast ^ ^). 



Lawrence was the first to associate Suraichrast's specimens of this Owl from 

 Tehuantepec with Bonaparte's description of Syrnium squamulatum % a name adopted 

 from Lichtenstein. We have now several specimens from the same district, and we 

 think they sufficiently differ from C. virgata to bear a distinct title ; and, moreover, 

 we trace the same bird northwards along the western States of Mexico as far as 

 Mazatlan, whence Mr. Forrer sent us specimens which agree with the Tehuantepec 

 birds. From this fact it follows that the birds of Grayson and Xantus from Western 

 Mexico ascribed by Lawrence ^ to Syrnium virgatum also belong to C. squamulata. 



It will be noticed that both these species of Owl are found on the Isthmus of 



* Not Surnia lineata, Less. Traite d'Orn. p. 101, which is Ciccaba Jiuhula (Daudin). 



