BIRDS 



267 



47. ASIO GALAPAGOENSIS (Gould). 



Brachyotus galapagoensis Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 10, 1837 (Gala- 

 pagos Islands). 



Otus galapagoensis Gould, Zool. Voy. Beagle, in, Birds, p. 32, pi. 3, 1841. 



Asia galapagoensis Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., xix, p. 585, 1896. — 

 Rothschild and Hartert, Novit. Zool., vi, p. 175, 1899. 



Range. — Chatham, Hood, Barrington, Indefatigable, Duncan, 

 James, Albemarle, Bindloe, Tower and Culpepper. 



This species is a local form of the nearly cosmopolitan Asio accif- 

 itrinus (Pall.). It differs from the latter species in having a some- 

 what larger bill and conspicuously larger feet; the middle toe meas- 

 uring about thirty two millimeters in length, while in A. accipitrinus 

 it is about twenty seven millimeters. A. galapagoensis differs also in 

 being generally darker and in having the brown streaks of the lower 

 parts wider and persistent upon the posterior part of the abdomen, on 

 the flanks, legs and under tail coverts. 



This owl is more common on the Galapagos Archipelago than the 

 only other species found there, Strix punctatissima. On some of 

 the islands it is fairly abundant, especially on Duncan and Barrington. 

 Throughout a part of its range this species must live entirely on birds 

 and insects, for on Tower, Culpepper and Hood there are apparently 

 no rodents. On Barrington and Duncan, where it is most numerous, 

 mice and rats are abundant. 



A set of four incubated eggs was taken on Barrington Island May 

 29. The nest consisted merely of a slight depression scraped in the 

 scanty soil where it was found, to which no lining had been added. 

 The eggs are white and subspherical in shape, measuring 42.5 x 34.5 ; 

 42.5 X 34; 43 X 34.5; 41 X 34. 



MEASUREMENTS OF ADULT SPECIMENS OF Asio galafagoensis. 



