Zoological Miscellany. 



53 



logists, the following table has been compiled with a view to attracting 

 the attention of our local collectors to the matter, and of eliciting from 

 them further facts and statistics bearing on the subject. 



Table showing coloration of fifty-six specimens Scops asio, from 

 Ohio and adjacent portions of Kentucky and Indiana. 



Red 

 Phase. 



Gray 

 Phase. 



Locality. 



11 



3 



8 



Hamilton County, Ohio. 



II •« CI 





1 



II II CI 



4 

 8 

 2 

 2 

 1 



2 

 3 

 5 

 2 



"l 



II ii C| 



Various Ohio localities. 

 Celina, Ohio. 



Latonia Springs, Kentucky. 

 Darke County, Ohio. 

 Brookville, Indiana. 



il a 





1 



1 



1 



a a 



32 



24 



• 



Collector. 



J. W. Shorten. 

 W. H. Fisher. 

 George Keck. 

 F. W. Langdon. 

 C. Dury. 

 C. Dury. 

 C. Dury. 

 J. W. Shorten. 

 E. R. Quick. 



Brookville Soc. Xat. His. 

 J. Rheme. 



According to Mr. Ridgway,* the proportion of er\ T themic specimens 

 bears a decided relation to the humidity of the atmosphere, Red 

 Screech Owls preponderating in the Mississippi Valley, while east of 

 the Alleghenies the gray phase is the rule. In support of this opinion 

 he asserts that in the Wabash Valley fully 95 per cent, of the Screech 

 Owls are red. As will be seen by the foregoing table there is a decided 

 reduction of this percentage of red owls in this vicinity, which fact 

 so far as it goes, tends to corroborate Mr. Ridgway's opinion as to the 

 influence of humidity. — (Ed.) 



Albinism — Buteo borealis, Vieillot. — Bed-tailed Buzzard. — This 

 beautiful specimen was taken near Wilmington, Clinton county, O., Nov- 

 15, 1881, and was sent to me alive. The entire plumage is white as 

 snow, and absolutely immaculate; the irides, dark brown ; the sex, male; 

 and the specimen evidently a mature bird. It has been a conspicuous 

 object in the above neighborhood for more than a year, and managed 

 to elude every effort for its capture until the time above mentioned, 

 when it was taken with the aid of a steel-trap. The specimen is now 

 undergoing the process of preservation, and will soon grace the orni- 

 thological cabinet of one of our prominent educational institutions.! — 

 John W. Shorten, Cincinnati, O. 



* Proc TJ. S. National Museum, 1878. 



t This specimen is>ow in the collection of the Cuvier Club. 



