78 BIRDS OF COLORADO. 



373. Magascops asio. Screech Owi,. 



Resident; rare. The western range of asio and the eastern 

 extension of maxwellice and aikeni have not been satisfactorily 

 determined. Asio is the common form of western Kansas and 

 western Nebraska, and maxwellicB is the common form of the 

 foothills and extending at least thirty mileS out on the plains. 

 Between these known points lie nearly two hundred miles of 

 plains, which form an unknown land so far as Screech Owls 

 are concerned. That asio does sometimes come into Colorado 

 is proved by the capture of one in the mottled phase near 

 Greeley, as reported to the present writer, by Pres. Z. X. Snyder. 

 According to Capt. P. M. Thorne, there is a Screech Owl in- 

 habits the timber along the Arkansas River at Fort Lyon. No 

 specimens were obtained. It must be either asio or aikeni^ and 

 of the two it is more likely to be asio. 



373e. Magascops asio maxwelliae. Rocky Mountain 



Screech Owl. 



Resident; common. According to present ideas this form 

 occurs in the mountains of Colorado from the central part of 

 the State northward, and from the foothills to about 6,000 feet. 

 It has been reported breeding from Denver, Boulder and l/ove- 

 land. Eggs are usually laid about the middle of April, but 

 have been found as early as the first of April and as late as the 

 last of May. V. L. Kellogg records it as a rare visitant at 

 Lamb's ranch in Estes Park. (Trans. Kans. Acad. Science, XII. 

 1889-90, 86.) This ranch has an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet. 



373g. Megascops asio aikeni. Aiken's Screech Owl. 



Resident. Type from El Paso County. E. M. Hasbrouck, 

 in summarizing the records of this species, says that it probably 

 does not occur north of Douglas County anywhere in Colorado. 

 It is a bird of the more open country along the foothills of the 

 Rocky Mountains, south to central New Mexico and northeastern 

 Arizona. Apparently not found below 5,000 feet nor above 

 9,000. Hasbrouck refers to this variety, Morrison's " Mccalli," 

 from La Plata County. (Auk, X. 1893, p. 250.) W. P. Lowe, 

 of Pueblo, writes that a Screech Owl, presumably this variety, 

 is rather common in the foothills of the Wet Mountains and that 

 he once found it breeding at 7,800 feet. 



374. Megascops flammeola. Flammulated Screech Owl. 

 Resident; rare. The rarest owl in Colorado, if not in 



the United States. All the known specimens from Colorado 

 have been taken along the main front range of the Rocky 

 Mountains, from Estes Park to the San Luis Valley. The first 

 record for Colorado is the specimen in the Maxwell Collection, 

 taken at Boulder, in March of some year previous to 1876. 



