BIEDS or NORTH AND MIDDLE AMEBICA. 681 



Genus OTUS Pennant. 



Otus o Pennant, Indian Zoology, 1769, 3. (Type, by monotypy, 0. bakhamxna 



Pennant. See Stone, Auk, xxiv, 1907, 192; Allen, Bull. Am. Mus., xxiv, 



1908, 22.) 

 Scops (not of Brunnicli, 1772) Savigny, Descr. de I'Egypte, i, livr. 1, 1809, 107, 



291. (Type, S. ephialtea Savigny=jS'<rw; scops Linnaeus.) 

 Ephialles (not of Schranck, 1802) Ketseeung and Blasius, Wirb. Eur., 1840, p. 



xxxiii. (Type, Strix scops Linnseus.) 

 Pisorhina Kaup, lais, 1848, 769. (Type, Scops manadensis Quoy and Gaimard.) 

 Megascops Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. (Type, Strix asio Linnaeus.) 

 Acnemis Kattp, Isis, 1848, 769. (Type, Scops gymnopodus Gray.) 

 Ptihpsis Kaup, Isis, 1848, 769. (Type, Strix leucotis Temminck.) 

 Lempijitts Bonapaktb, Rev. et Mag. de Zool., vi (2), 1854, 542. (Type, Otus 



semitorguatus Schlegel.) 

 Zorca S. T>. W., Analyst, ii, no. xvi, Jan., 1836, 200. (Type, Z. arborea S. D. W.= 



Strix scops Linnaeus.) 

 Scototheres 5 Heine and Reichenow, Nom. Mus. Hein. Om., 1890, 249. (New 



name for Lempijius Bonaparte, on grounds of purism.) 

 Psiloscops « OoiTES, Osprey, iii. May (pub. June 10), 1899, 144. (Type, Scops 



flammeola Kaup.) 



Small Bubonidse (wing less — usually much less — than 180 mm.) 

 with more or less conspicuous ear- tufts; tarsus with at least upper 

 half feathered (usually feathered to base of toes, sometimes on toes 

 also) and ear-orifice relatively small, symmetrical, without dermal 

 flap. 



Bill relatively moderately large to rather small; top of cere decid- 

 edly shorter than chord of culmen, ascending and slightly arched 

 basally. Nostril roundish or broadly oval, opening in anterior edge 

 of the laterally inflated cere. Wing large, with longest primaries 

 extending considerably beyond longest secondaries; fifth to eighth'* 

 primaries longest, the tenth (apparent outermost) shorter than fifth," 

 sometimes shorter than secondaries; two to four outer primaries with 

 inner webs emarginated or sinuated. Tail relatively short (less than 

 half as long as wing), slightly rounded; rec trices 12. Tarsus slightly 

 longer than middle toe with claw, densely feathered for at least upper 

 half, usually for entire length; upper side of toes sometimes whoUy 

 naked, sometimes covered (except on terminal phalanx) -with bristles, 

 more rarely clothed with short hair-like feathers. Head with more 

 or less conspicuous ear-tufts. 



Coloration. — ^Upper parts either conspicuously variegated with 

 brown, dusky, and whitish, grayish, or buffy, or else mostly nearly 

 uniform rufous; outer web of exterior scapulars mostly white, buffy, 



» Sxoc, a homed owl. (Richmond.) 

 6 2k6toc, darkness; 6^p6uo, I hunt. (Richmond.) 

 « ¥iX6c, bare, smooth; aicc!)(l>, a small owl. (Richmond.) 



d Third to sixth when counted from outside, not including the rudimentary and 

 concealed eleventh (first) primary, 

 e Sixth from outside. 



