feathered; face ochraceous.
Dusky of the upper parts in form of longitudinal stripes, contrasting conspicuously with the paler ground-color. Beneath with ochraceous prevalent; the markings in form of longitudinal stripes, with scarcely any transverse bars. Hab. Europe and considerable part of the Old World … var. vulgaris.19
Dusky of the upper parts in form of confused mottling, not contrasting conspicuously with the paler ground-color. Beneath with the ochraceous overlaid by the whitish tips to the feathers; the markings in form of transverse bars, which are broader than the narrow medial streak. Wing, 11.50–12.00; tail, 6.00–6.20; culmen, .65; tarsus, 1.20–1.25; middle toe, 1.15. Wing-formula, 2, 3–4–1. Hab. North America … var. wilsonianus.
2. O. stygius.20 Ends of primaries narrow, that of the first almost falcate; toes entirely naked; face dusky, or with dusky prevailing.
Above blackish-brown, thinly relieved by an irregular sparse spotting of yellowish-white. Beneath with the markings in form of longitudinal stripes, which throw off occasional transverse arms toward the edge of the feathers. Wing, 13.00; tail, 6.80; culmen, .90; tarsus, 1.55; middle toe, 1.50. Wing-formula, 2, 3–4, 1. Hab. South America.
B. Brachyotus, Gould (1837). Similar to Otus, but ear-tufts rudimentary, and the second quill as well as the first with the inner web emarginated.
Colors ochraceous, or white, and clear dark brown, without shadings or middle tints. Beneath with narrow longitudinal dark stripes upon the whitish or ochraceous ground-color; crown and neck longitudinally striped with dark brown and ochraceous.
3. O. brachyotus. Wings and tail nearly equally spotted and banded with ochraceous and dark brown. Tail with about six bands, the ochraceous terminal. Face dingy ochraceous, blackish around the eyes. Wing, about 11.00–13.00; tail, 5.75–6.10; culmen, .60–.65; tarsus, 1.75–1.80; middle toe, 1.20. Hab. Whole world (except Australia?).
Though this genus is cosmopolitan, the species are few in number; two of them (O. vulgaris and O. brachyotus) are common to both North America and Europe, one of them (the latter) found also in nearly every country in the world. Besides these, South Africa has a peculiar species (O. capensis) while Tropical America alone possesses the O. stygius.
? Strix peregrinator (?), Bart. Trav. 1792, p. 285.—Cass. B. Cal. & Tex. 1854, 196. Asio peregrinator, Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 207. Otus wilsonianus, Less. Tr. Orn. 1831, 110.—Gray, Gen. fol. sp. 2, 1844.—Ib. List Birds Brit. Mus. p. 105.—Cass. Birds Cal. & Tex. 1854, 81.—Ib. Birds N. Am. 1858, 53.—Coop. & Suck. 1860, 155.—Coues, Prod. 1866, 14. Otus americanus, Bonap. List, 1838, p. 7.—Ib. Consp. p. 50.—Wederb. & Tristr. Cont. Orn. 1849, p. 81.—Kaup, Monog. Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, 113.—Ib. Trans. Zoöl. Soc. IV, 1859, 233.—Max. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 25.—Gray, Hand List, I, 1869, No. 540, p. 50. Strix otus, Wils. Am. Orn. 1808, pl. li, f. 1.—Rich. & Sw. F. B. A. II, 72.—Bonap. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, 37.—Ib. Isis, 1832, 1140.—Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 572.—Ib. Birds Am. pl. ccclxxxiii.—Peab. Birds, Mass. 88. Ulula otus, Jard. ed. Wils. Am. Orn. I, 1831, 104.—Brewer, ed. Wils. Am. Orn. Synop. p. 687.—Nutt. Man. 130. Otus vulgaris (not of Fleming!), Jardine, ed. Wils. Am. Orn. 1832, II, 278.—Aud. Synop. 1831, 28.—Giraud, Birds Long Island, p. 25. Otus vulgaris, var. wilsonianus (Ridgway), Coues, Key, 1872, 204. Bubo asio, De Kay, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 25, pl. xii, f. 25.
Sp. Char. Adult. Upper surface transversely mottled with blackish-brown and grayish-white, the former predominating, especially on the dorsal region; feathers of the nape and wings (only), ochraceous beneath the surface, lower scapulars with a few obsolete spots of white on lower webs. Primary coverts dusky, with transverse series of dark mottled grayish spots, these becoming somewhat ochraceous basally; ground-color of the primaries grayish, this especially prevalent on the inner quills; the basal third (or less) of all are ochraceous, this decreasing in extent on inner feathers; the grayish tint is everywhere finely mottled transversely with dusky, but the ochraceous is plain; primaries crossed by a series of about seven quadrate blackish-brown spots, these anteriorly about as wide as the intervening yellowish or mottled grayish; the interval between the primary coverts to the first of these spots is about .80 to 1.00 inch on the fourth quill,—the spots on the inner and outer feathers approaching the coverts, or even underlying them; the inner primaries—or, in fact, the general exposed grayish surface—has much narrower bars of dusky. Ground-color of the wings like the back, this growing paler on the outer feathers, and becoming ochraceous basally; the tip approaching whitish; secondaries crossed by nine or ten narrow bands of dusky.
Ear-tufts, with the lateral portion of each web, ochraceous; this becoming white, somewhat variegated with black, toward the end of the inner webs, on which the ochraceous is broadest; medial portion clear, unvariegated black. Forehead and post-auricular disk minutely speckled with blackish and white; facial circle continuous brownish-black, becoming broken into a variegated collar across the throat. “Eyebrows” and lores grayish-white; eye surrounded with blackish, this broadest anteriorly above and below, the posterior half being like the ear-coverts. Face plain ochraceous; chin and upper part of the throat immaculate white. Ground-color below pale ochraceous, the exposed surface of the feathers, however, white; breast with broad longitudinal blotches of clear dark brown, these medial, on the feathers; sides and flanks, each feather with a medial stripe, crossed by as broad, or broader, transverse bars, of blackish-brown; abdomen, tibial plumes, and legs plain ochraceous, becoming nearly white on the lower part of tarsus and on the toes; tibial plumes with a few sagittate marks of brownish; lower tail-coverts each having a medial sagittate mark of dusky, this continuing along the shaft, forking toward the base. Lining of the wing plain pale ochraceous; inner primary coverts blackish-brown, forming a conspicuous spot.
38256 ½ ½
Otus wilsonianus.
♂ (51,227, Carlisle, Penn.; S. F. Baird). Wing formula, 2, 3–1, 4, etc. Wing, 11.50; tail, 6.20; culmen, .65; tarsus, 1.20; middle toe, 1.15.
♀ (2,362, Professor Baird’s collection, Carlisle, Penn.). Wing formula, 2, 3–4–1. Wing, 12.00; tail, 6.00; culmen, .65; tarsus, 1.25; middle toe, 1.15.
Young (49,568, Sacramento, Cal., June 21, 1867; Clarence King, Robert Ridgway). Wings and tail as in the adult; other portions transversely banded with blackish-brown and grayish-white, the latter prevailing anteriorly; eyebrows and loral bristles entirely black; legs white.
Hab. Whole of temperate North America? Tobago? (Jardine).
Localities: Tobago (Jardine, Ann. Mag. 18, 116); Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 50).
The American Long-eared Owl is quite different in coloration from the Otus vulgaris of Europe. In the latter, ochraceous prevails over the whole surface, even above, where the transverse dusky mottling does not approach the uniformity that it does in the American bird; in the European bird, each feather above has a conspicuous medial longitudinal stripe of dark brownish: these markings are found everywhere except on the rump and upper tail-coverts, where the ochraceous is deepest, and transversely clouded with dusky mottling; in the American bird, no longitudinal stripes are visible on the upper surface. The ochraceous of the lower surface is, in the vulgaris, varied only (to any considerable degree) by the sharply defined medial longitudinal stripes to the feathers, the transverse bars being few and inconspicuous; in wilsonianus, white overlies the ochraceous below, and the longitudinal are less conspicuous than the transverse markings;
