78 BIRDS OF COLORADO. 
373. Magascops asio. Screech Owl. 
Resident; rare. The western range of asio and the eastern 
extension of maxwellicE and aike7ii have not been satisfactorily 
determined. Asio is the common form of western Kansas and 
western Nebraska, and maxwellics is the common form of the 
foothills and extending at least thirty miles out on the plains. 
Between these known points lie nearly two hundred miles of 
plains, which form an unknown land so far as Screech Owls 
are concerned. That asio does sometimes come into Colorado 
is proved by the capture of one in the mottled phase near 
Greeley, as reported to the present writer, by Pres. Z. X. Snyder. 
According to Capt. P. M. Thorne, there is a Screech Owl in- 
habits the timber along the Arkansas River at Fort Lyon. No 
specimens were obtained. It must be either asio or aikeni^ and 
of the two it is more likely to be asio. 
373e. Magascops asio maxwelliae. Rocky Mountain 
Screech Owl. 
Resident; common. According to present ideas this form 
occurs in the mountains of Colorado from the central part of 
the State northward, and from the foothills to about 6,000 feet. 
It has been reported breeding from Denver, Boulder and Love- 
land. Eggs are usually laid about the middle of April, but 
have been found as early as the first of April and as late as the 
last of May. V. L. Kellogg records it as a rare visitant at 
Lamb’s ranch in Estes Park. (Trans. Kans. Acad. Science, XII. 
1889-90, 86.) This ranch has an altitude of nearly 9,000 feet. 
373g. Megascops asio aikeni. Aiken’s Screech Owl. 
Resident. Type from El Paso County. E. M. Hasbrouck, 
in summarizing the records of this species, says that it probably 
does not occur north of Douglas County anywhere in Colorado. 
It is a bird of the more open country along the foothills of the 
Rocky Mountains, south to central New Mexico and northeastern 
Arizona. Apparently not found below 5,000 feet nor above 
9,000. Hasbrouck refers to this variety, Morrison’s “ Mccalli,” 
from La Plata County. (Auk, X. 1893, p. 250.) W. P. Lowe, 
of Pueblo, writes that a Screech Owl, presumably this variety, 
is rather common in the foothills of the Wet Mountains and that 
he once found it breeding at 7,800 feet. 
374. Megascops flammeola. Flammulated Screech Owl. 
Resident ; rare. The rarest owl in Colorado, if not in 
the United States. All the known specimens from Colorado 
have been taken along the main front range of the Rocky 
Mountains, from Estes Park to the San Luis Valley. The first 
record for Colorado is the specimen in the Maxwell Collection, 
taken at Boulder, in March of some year previous to 1876. 
