622 BTJLLETIlir 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



d. Rectricee 12; tarauB not longer than middle toe with claw (sometimes much 

 shorter), densely feathered; tenth (apparent outermost) primary shorter 



than first ; tail more than half as long as wing Glaucidium (p . 779) . 



dd. Rectrices 10; tarsus .longer than middle toe with claw, scantily haired or 

 bristled; tenth (apparent outermost) primary equal to or longer than first; 



tail less than half as long as wing Micropallas (p. 806). 



cc. Eighth and ninth" primaries longest, the tenth (apparent outermost) longer 

 than sixth;!' tarsus more than twice as long as middle toe Vithout claw; 

 outer toe much shorter than inner toe, laiger (wing more than 150 mm.). 



Speotyto (p. 812). 



Genus CRYPTOGLAUX Richmond. 



Nyctala (not Nyctalus Bowdish, 1825) Bbehm, Isis, bd. xxi, heft xii, 1828, 1271 



(Type, as fixed by Gray, 1855, Strix tengmalmi Gmelin.) 

 Nyctale « (emendation) Brehm, Handb. Naturg. Vog. Deutschl., 1831, 111. 

 Aegolius (not Aegolia Billberg, 1820) Katjp, Skizz. Entw.-Gesch. Naturl. Syst. 



Eur. Thierw., th. 1, 1829, 34. (Type, by original designation, Strix 



tengmalmi Gmelin.) 

 Scotophilus (not Scotophila Hubner, 1816, nor of Leach, 1822) Swainson, Clasaif. 



Birds, ii, 1837, 217. (Type, Strix tengmalmi Gmelin.) 

 (?)Glaux MoEEis, in N. Wood's Naturalist, ii, no. 9, 1837, 123. (Types, G. 



tengmalmi Morris l=Strix tengmalmi Gmelin?] and O. nudipes Morris [=?]). 

 Oryptoglaux ^ Richmond, Auk, xvui, April, 1901, 193. (Type, Strix teTigmalmi 



Gmelin.) 

 Microscops Butuelin, Nacha Okhota, St. Petersb., Nov., 1910, 13. (Type, Strix 



acadica Gmelin.) 



Small Bubonidse (wiag about 130-188 mm.) with minute or rudi- 

 mentary ear-tufts,* relatirely very large head, very broad and flat 

 face, small eyes, excessively large and conspicuously asymmetrical 

 external ear-openings (the asymmetry involving even the skull itself), 

 and (except in 0. ndgwayi) feathered toes. 



Bill relatively small and weak; cere on top much shorter than 

 chord of culmen, nearly straight, slightly ascending basally. Nostril 

 rather small, oval or broadly elliptical, vertical, or obliquely vertical, 

 in anterior edge of cere. External ear-opening excessively large, 

 involving nearly the whole of the postocular portion of the head, 

 broadly oval, margined aU round with a narrow dermal flap (widest 

 anteriorly), those of opposite sides conspicuously asymmetrical, the 

 ear-orifice on left, side entirely below the median transverse liga- 

 mentous bridge, that on right side mostly above the bridge. Wing 

 relatively large, with longest primaries exceeding distal secondaries 



1 Second and third from outside. 



b Fifth from outside. 



c "Von wKzaXoc, ein Freund der Nacht." (Brehm.) 



"2 Kptmwc, hidden, and j-Aoif, an owl. (Richmond.) 



« At first sight there are apparently no ear-tufts, but a close examination will reveal 

 distinct though very minute indications of them. In the very closely related (and 

 possibly not really distinct) South American genus Gisella (see p. 619) the ear-tufts 

 are still more obvious. 



