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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLVII 



nine Mallophagan species, and the South American cara- 

 cara, Polyborus tharos, with eight. 



In the Strigiformes, or owls, represented in our host 

 list by nineteen host species, we have added confirmation 

 of the Mallophagan hesitancy to straggle even with good 

 opportunity. There is no record of a mammal parasite 

 on any owl, nor but two or three of Mallophagan species 

 characteristic of birds of other orders. Of the charac- 

 teristic owl parasites, Docophorus cursor occurs on all 

 three species of Asio included in the host list. One of 

 these Asios is restricted to the Galapagos Islands, one 

 ranges Mexico and temperate North America, and one 

 occurs in both old and new worlds. The genus Strix, 

 barn owls, is represented by two species, one the old 

 world barn owl and the other the barn owl of temperate 

 North America. The Mallophagan species Docophorus 

 rostratus occurs on both of them. Asio accipitrinus, the 

 cosmopolitan hawk owl, carries seven Mallophagan 

 species. 



The Psittaciformes, parrots and cockatoos, are repre- 

 sented in the host list by twenty-eight species, infested 

 usually by only one to two or three parasite kinds, al- 

 though five have been recorded from a Senegambian 

 Psittacus. It is pleasant to note that the cruel New Zea- 

 land Keas, which have adopted the extraordinary habit of 

 alighting on the backs of living sheep and tearing their 

 flesh, even through to the vitals, have at least three Mal- 

 lophagan parasite species to make life a little uncomfor- 

 table for them. One of these species, Lipeurus circum- 

 fasciatus, is recorded from three other parrots of Aus- 

 tralia and Malaysia. 



The catch-all order Coraciiformes, including the 

 rollers, kingfishers, hoopoes, mot-mots, poor-wills, swifts 

 and humming-birds, is represented in the list by forty- 

 five species, of which six are kingfishers, six are hummers 

 and five are swifts. Of the five swifts three are of the 

 new world and two of the old. The Mallophagan genus 

 Nitzschia is peculiar to the swifts and is found, repre- 



