STRIGIDG: OTHER OWLS. 505 
inner webs. Tail with light and dark bars. A large and nearly cosmopolitan genus, especially 
rich in tropical species; but only two are known to inhabit N. Am., one of them running 
into several local races very difficult to characterize satisfactorily. 
Analysis of Species and Varieties. 
Toes bristly or partly feathered. Plumicornsconspicuous . . . . . 2. 6 © + © «© «© + «+ aio 465 
Dichromatic ; red phase bright rusty. Eastern. 
Medium in size: wing usually between 6.00 and 7.00; tail about 3.50. Markings of under parts 
coarse, irregular, and blotchy, usually wanting on middle of belly; of upper parts fine but 
irregular, without nuchal collar. Eastern U.S. and Canada. . . » . + asio 465 
Small: wing usually 5.50-6.00; tail about 3.00. Markings as in asio, but valthise heavier. Florida 
floridanus 469 
Small: size of floridanus. Markings of under parts fine, regular, of upper parts coarse, but reg- 
ular, with tendency to a nuchal collar. Texas . . Lee ahs go» Si aes maccalli 468 
Dichromatic; red phase rusty-brown. Northwestern. 
Large: wing usually over 7.00. In the gray phase like asio, but markings of under parts finer, 
more regular and continuous. Northwestern . . . a te < . . «kennicotti 466 
Dichromatism not known to occur. Western. 
Medium: size of average asio. Markings of under parts thick, seein continuous over the 
whole surface; of upper parts exactly asin asio. California. . . bendirii 466a 
Medium: size of average asio. Markings of all parts very light, the gray vaaie. with much 
white, especially on wings and under parts eo eR ee Poe . .maxwelle 467 
Toes perfectly naked, Plumicorns short. , Southwestern . a ht ~ + +. flammeola 471 
465. S. a/sio. (Lat. asio, a kind of horned owl.) Lirrin Hom Owx. ScrEEcH OWL. 
MoTrTLteD OwL. RepOwn. Of medium size; length 8.00-10.00; extent about 22.00; wing 
6.00-7.00, usually between these numbers ; tail 3.25-3.50. Gray or normal phase, adult f 9: 
Upper parts brownish-gray in minutely dappled pattern of lighter and darker shades, every- 
where finely but irregularly streaked with black or blackish shaft-lines, usually most evident 
on the crown. A conspicuous oblique scapular bar formed by the white or creamy outer webs 
of several scapulars, each usually touched with black at its end; a second similar bar on outer 
webs of several outer wing-coverts. Wing-quills dusky, the outer webs of the primaries with 
several distinct conspicuous white or buff spots; the inner webs of the primaries and both webs 
of the secondaries with numerous alternating lighter and darker bars; lining of wings mostly 
yellowish-white. Til like the secondaries, but the light bars mostly ragged or dissipated in 
marbling. Facial disc set in a blackish frame nearly all around; mostly finely mottled, but 
the lores and chin usually whitish, immaculate. Taking white as the ground of the under 
parts, this is coarsely and irregularly blotched and streaked with thick shaft-lines giving off 
numberless finer curved or wavy cross-bars ; the general aspect patchy; the markings usually 
wanting on the middle of the belly. Iris yellow; bill livid or slate-gray, pale horn-color at 
tip ; claws blackish. From this stage the ‘ mottled owl.’ passes by insensible degrees, through 
wood-brown, hazel-brown, and tawny into the ‘red owl.’ — Red or erythrismal phase: Bright 
rust-red, sometimes even bronzed; most of the special markings dissipated or absorbed in the 
red, continuous and uniform above, showing only traces if any of the black shaft-stripes ; below, 
black stripes and blotches usually preserved, and the red also mixed with much white. The 
dark rim of the disc, and white scapular stripes, are usually preserved. The two phases are 
distinct from the first feathering. Nestlings are covered with white down. The first feather- 
ing, in the normal phase, is almost everywhere closely and regularly barred or waved cross- 
wise with dark gray and pale gray or whitish. Eastern U. 8. and Canada, W. to the Rocky 
Mts., on the confines of its range shading into the several varieties noted beyond; resident, and 
on the whole the most abundant owl, breeding about buildings as well as in hollow trees or 
stumps, and feeding on small quadrupeds, as mice and shrews, small birds, and insects ; nest a 
slight structure in the hollow selected for a resident ; eggs 5 or 6, white, subspherical, 1.30 to 
1.40 * 1.15 to 1.20. 
466, S. a. kennicot'ti. (To Robert Kennicott.) Kuennicorr’s ScrEEcH Owx. The larger 
northern form. Length about 11.00; wing usually 7.00-7.50, but grading down in some cases 
