Brewster on Kennicotf s Owl and some of its Allies. 3 1 
During the course of the preceding investigation I had occasion 
to compare a large number of Eastern specimens of Scops asio 
with some California examples from Nicasio and Alameda 
County. Somewhat to my surprise, I detected several apparently 
constant differences which, taken in connection with the pretty 
definitely settled fact that the California bird is not, like asio , 
subject to dichromatism, seem to me to warrant the varietal sepa- 
ration of the two. I accordingly propose a new race as follows : — 
Scops asio bendirei,* var. nov. 
California Screech Owl. 
Ch. Sp. Similis .S’, asioni, sed auribus brevioribus ; colore subtus 
magis cinerario, transversis lineis tenuioribus, pallidioribus, ac in medio 
baud interruptis. Nulla rubra conditione cognita. 
Adult $ (No. 1,546, author’s collection, Nicasio, California, April 24, 
1877, C. A. Allen). Above essentially similar to asio in its gray dress. 
Beneath ashy-white, every where thickly barred and streaked with black ; 
the transverse bars being fine, numerous and regular, the shaft-stripes 
coarse and generally distributed from the throat to the crissum, both 
markings occurring as thickly on the median line of the breast and abdo- 
men as along their sides. Wing, 6.20; tail, 3.30; tarsus, 1.503 culmen, 
.60; ear-tufts, 1.15. 
Another adult from the same locality (?, May 18, 1878, Coll. H. A. 
Purdie), measures, wing, 6.22; tail, 3.18; ear-tufts, 1.05: while seven 
unsexed specimens from Alameda county furnish the following extremes : 
wing, 6.01-6.52 ; tail, 3.22-3.72 ; ear-tufts, 1. 05-1. 25. 
The above detailed characters, so far as my series goes, are 
sufficient to distinguish the California specimens from any gray 
examples of asio taken in the Eastern States. The chief differ- 
ence is in the ground-color and markings of the plumage beneath. 
In asio the central line of the breast and abdomen is nearly 
always immaculate, while there is frequently a broad, entirely 
unspotted gular space: in bendirei these parts are as thickly 
barred and streaked as are the sides, while the ashy tinge of the 
entire lower surface and the much finer character of the trans- 
verse pencilling gives the plumage a clouded appearance which, 
although difficult of description, is very characteristic. The ear- 
tufts, also, are usually shorter than those of S. asio . 
* As my material is not at present sufficiently comprehensive to enable me to define 
the limits of distribution of this race I leave the compilation of its synonymy to those 
who may have better opportunities in this respect. 
