FAM. XXriI. HORNED OWLS, ETC. 



191 



lives in the deserted holes or burrows of " prairie dogs " and 

 other quadrupeds, including foxes and badgers. 



Length, 10 ; wing, 6J (5|-7J) ; tail, S\ ; tarsus. If ; oulmen, |. West- 

 ern United States, including the Great Plains, north to southern British 

 America and south to Central America. Accidental in New York and 

 Massachusetts. The Florida Burrowing Owl (378". S. u. florkland) of 

 southern Florida and the Bahamas is much like the last, but averages 

 slightly smaller ; the legs are even more nearly free from feathers ; the 

 lower parts have a more purely white ground color, and the upper parts a 

 sepia-brown with pure white dottings. 



12. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl (380. Glaucldimn phalcenoldes. 

 — A very small, southwestern, olive-brown, or reddish owl, with- 

 out ear tufts, and with a chestnut-red or white tail crossed 

 by about eight blackish-brown 

 bars. The top of the head 'is 

 sharply streaked with whitish. 

 The olive-brown or reddish of 

 the back is mainly free from 

 markings excepting the shoul 

 ders, which have large, round, 

 white spots. This small spe- 

 cies, like the screech owl, is 

 found in some varieties, — a 

 grayish-brown, a red one and 

 some that are intermediate in 

 color. Sometimes the red is so 

 intense and uniform as to de- 

 stroy the barring of the tail 

 and the wings. (Ferruginous 

 Gnome Owl.) 



Ferrnginons Pygmy Owl 



Length, 6J ; wing, 4 (3^-4]) ; tail, 3 ; tarsus, | ; culmen, f . Texas to 

 Arizona and south to southern Brazil. 



13. Elf Owl (381. Micropdllas wMtneyi). — A very small, 

 western, mottled, and grayish or grayish-brown owl, without 

 ear tufts and with a white or whitish, more or less interrupted, 

 collar around the neck. The lower parts are white, with more 



