206 Birds of Colorado 
Description.—Adult—Above finely mottled grey and dusky and 
streaked with black, rather heavily on the crown ; a good deal of white 
on the scapulars and wing-coverts and the fulvous tinge very faint 
or absent; below mottled like the back, but rather paler, heavily 
blotched and streaked with black, the streaks usually taking branched, 
tree-like shapes; iris yellow ?, bill and claws bluish-horn. Length 
6-25; wing 6-5; tail3-0; culmen -75; tarsus 1-5. 
A young bird of the year is hardly to be distinguished from the adult. 
A male Screech Owl in the Aiken collection, taken in Colorado Springs, 
J anuary, 1904, in the ‘‘ red phase”? was referred by Brewster, who 
examined it, to the typical Otus asio, but there seems to me to be no 
reason for regarding it as anything but the red phase of O. avkeni. 
In this specimen the whole of the grey mottling above is replaced by 
rich rufous, with a little black streaking; the white on the scapulars 
and coverts is as in the grey phase; below there is a little rufous on 
the foro-neck and sides, and a few dark streaks, but the central portion 
of the under-parts is chiefly white. 
Distribution.—Aiken’s Screech Owl is a fairly common resident in 
Colorado, and is found along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains 
from El Paso co. south, probably to Fort Wingate in New Mexico. 
There is a good series, all from the immediate neighbourhood of Colorado 
Springs, mostly taken in winter, in the Aiken collection. Lowe met 
with this Owl commonly in the foothills of the Wet Mountains, and 
once found a family party in thick pifions at 7,800 feet, while the Screech 
Owls of La Plata co. noticed by Morrison, should probably be referred 
here. 
Warren has recently (March 28th, 1909) obtained a Screech Owl from 
Orchard on the Platte in the north of the State which I cannot 
distinguish from this form, though presumably it should be O. a. 
maxwellie, and I very much doubt if it will be possible to maintain 
the distinction between the two subspecies unless their ranges can be 
separated. 
Habits.—This little Owl is usually found lurking in 
the hollows of old willows or cotton-woods, and is so tame 
or perhaps frightened that it can often be caught in the 
hand. Aiken found the remains of a Pink-sided Junco 
in the stomach of one examined by him, and it probably 
preys on small birds as well as mice. 
A nestling in downy plumage was brought alive to 
Aiken on June 25th, 1905. He kept it for about six 
months. It became very tame and a great pet. It 
