640 BULLETIN 50, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



(?) Buhm Hodgson, Aedat. Research., six, 1836, 169. (Type, B. newarenm 



Hodgson.) 

 (?) Nyctimem a Morris, in N. Wood's Naturalist, ii, no. 9, June, 1837, 123. (Types, 



N. flammula Marns^Strix altux> Linnaeus? and N. stridula Morris=,?) , 

 {1)Myrtha Bonaparte, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., vi (2), 1854, 541. (Type, Strix 



sinensis Latham.) 



Large or medium-sized Bubomdse (wing, in American species, about 

 305-380 mm.) without ear-tufts, the external ear-opening very large, 

 reniform, conspicuously asymmetrical, and furnished with a large 

 anterior operculum or dermal flap; symmetrical cranium; relatively 

 large eyes (the iris always dark brown), and incompletely feathered 

 toes. 



BiU moderately stout; top of cere much shorter than chord of 

 cuhnen, nearly straight or faintly arched. Nostril oval or broadly 

 elliptical, moderately large, obliquely vertical, opening in anterior 

 edge of cere, the latter somewhat inflated laterally. External ear- 

 opening occupying middle half or more of postocular region of head, 

 the ear-orifice opening below a median transverse Hgamentous 

 "bridge," the anterior margin produced into a very large operculum 

 or dermal flap, the opposite ears conspicuously asymmetrical in all 

 their parts, and the right ear distiactly larger than the left. Wing 

 rather large, with longest primaries decidedly longer than distal sec- 

 ondaries; sixth and seventh, or sixth, seventh, and eighth,* primaries 

 longest, the tenth (apparent outermost) not longer than the sec- 

 ond," sometimes shorter than the first ;<* five outer primaries with 

 inner webs sinuated. Tail less to more than two-thirds as long as 

 wing, slightly to distinctly rounded. Tarsus decidedly longer than 

 middle toe with claw, completely clothed with dense, soft feathers, 

 the upper side of toes (except terminal phalanx) usually also feathered 

 but sometimes naked except on outer side of basal phalanx of middle 

 toe. Head relatively large, without trace of ear-tufts. 



Ooloration (of American species). — Above brown, barred or spotted 

 with buffy or whitish; face duU grayish or dingy whitish, usually 

 with narrow concentric lines of darker; primaries spotted with pale 

 brown and whitish and tail crossed by about 6-8 narrow bands of the 

 same; under parts whitish (buffy or ochraceous beneath surface), 

 barred (anteriorly) and striped (posteriorly), or spotted only, with 

 brown; iris blackish brown or brownish black; bill yellowish.^ 



Range. — Palsearctic and Nearctic Regions; in America, south to 

 highlands of Guatemala. (Numerous species.)* ' 



" iViif {vuKxbc), night; iikvio, I remain, abide. {Richmond.) 

 6 Fourth and fifth, or third, fourth, and fifth, from outside. 

 « Ninth from outside. 

 i Tenth from outside. 



«In Sharpe's "Hand-list" (i, 1899, 293-294) thirty-one species are given under 

 "Symium" (=Strix); but some of these are undoubtedly not congeneric. 



