Color Key to North American Birds Part 40

[Ill.u.s.tration: 372.]

=372. Saw-whet Owl; Acadian Owl= (_Nyctala acadica_). L. 8. _Ads._ Above _cinnamon_ brown; forehead with many, hindhead with few _streaks_; back with white spots; feet and legs less heavily feathered than in No. 371 and _without_ dusky bars. _Yng._ Breast and back cinnamon brown with few white markings; belly _rusty buff, unstreaked_. _Notes._ A frequently repeated whistle; sometimes high, sometimes low; generally begins slow and ends rapidly; resembles noise of saw-filing. (Ralph.)

Range.--North America; breeds from mountains of Pennsylvania, Ma.s.sachusetts (rarely), northern New York, northern Illinois; and, in Rocky Mountains, from Mexico northward; winters south to Virginia, Kansas and central California.

=372a. Northwest Saw-whet Owl= (_N. a. scotaea_). Similar to No. 372, but darker both above and below, dark markings everywhere heavier; flanks, legs and feet more rufescent. (Osgood.)

Range.--Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 379.]

=379. Pygmy Owl= (_Glaucidium gnoma_). L. 7. Top of head _spotted_.

_Ads._ Above grayish brown; spots whitish. _Yng._ No spots on head.

_Notes._ A soft cooing _coohuh_, _coohuh_, repeated a number of times.

(Bendire.)

Range.--"Timbered regions of western North America, from southern Rocky Mountains in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona," west to California, Oregon, and Was.h.i.+ngton, except coast belt, south into Mexico.

=379a. California Pygmy Owl= (G. g. californic.u.m). Similar to No. 379, but darker; spots above buff or rusty.

Range.--Humid coast region from Monterey, California, north to British Columbia.

=379.1. Hoskin Pygmy Owl= (_Glaucidium hoskinsii_). Similar to No.

379a, but smaller and grayer, the forehead and facial disc with more white, the upperparts less distinctly spotted. (Brewst.)

Range.--Southern Lower California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 380.]

=380. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl= (_Glaucidium phalaenoides_). L. 7. Top of head _streaked_. _Ads._ Above varying from grayish brown marked with whitish to plain reddish brown without marks; below white streaked with grayish brown or reddish brown. _Yng._ No streaks on head.

_Notes._ A softly whistled _coo_ repeated many times at intervals of about one second.

Range.--Tropical America; from Brazil north to Mexican border of United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 381.]

=381. Elf Owl= (_Micropallas whitneyi_). L. 6. Smallest of our Owls.

_Ads._ Above grayish brown, head spotted; back barred with rusty; below mixed rusty, white and grayish. _Notes._ A tremulous _cha-cha_, _cha-cha_, in different keys, sometimes low, sometimes distinct.

(Bendire.)

Range.--Tableland of Mexico from Puebla north to Mexican border of United States; Lower California, and (rarely) California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 373.]

=373. Screech Owl= (_Megascops asio_). L. 9.4; W. 6.4; T. 3. Two color phases; with ear-tufts; eyes yellow. _Ad._ Gray phase. Above buffy gray irregularly marked with black; below gray, white, rusty and black. _Ad._ Red phase. Above bright rusty brown with a few black streaks; below white streaked with black and barred with rusty brown.

_Yng._ Above gray or rusty _barred_ with black and white; below white thickly barred with blackish. _Notes._ A frequently repeated tremulous, wailing whistle; often followed by a slower refrain-like call; a castanet-like snapping of the mandibles.

Range.--Eastern North America from Florida north to New Brunswick, Ontario and Minnesota, west to the Great Plains; resident.

=373a. Florida Screech Owl= (_M. a. florida.n.u.s_). Smaller than No.

373, W. 6.0; T. 2.8. Two color phases. Similar to those of No. 373, but averaging darker and more heavily marked below; especially in red phase.

Range.--Florida, north along coast to South Carolina; west along coast to Louisiana.

=373b. Texas Screech Owl= (_M. a. mccalli_). Similar to No. 373, but smaller, W. 6.1; underparts, especially sides of belly, with more black bars; toes barer. I have seen only a gray phase.

Range.--"From western and southern Texas across east border of tablelands of Mexico." (Bailey.)

=373c. California Screech Owl= (_M. a. bendirei_). W. 6.6. A gray color phase only. Resembling No. 373, but somewhat darker above; less buff about the nape; black streakings more regularly distributed; underparts much as in No. 373b.

Range.--California and southern Oregon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 373d.]

=373d. Kennicott Screech Owl= (_M. a. kennicottii_). L. 10; W. 7.25.

_Ads._ Sooty brown prevailing above; blackish markings below nearly if not fully as wide as white ones; darkest of our Screech Owls.

Range.--Pacific coast from Oregon to Sitka.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 373e.]

=373e. Rocky Mountain Screech Owl= (_M. a. maxwelliae_). W. 7. Similar to No. 373f above but paler; pale grayish buff predominating; black markings throughout much narrower and less numerous than in No. 373g; palest of our Screech Owls.

Range.--"Foothills and adjacent plains of the east Rocky Mountains from Colorado north to Montana" (Bendire).

=373f. Mexican Screech Owl= (_M. a. cineraceus_). A gray color phase only. Similar to No. 373b. but much grayer above; buff markings of No.

373b almost wholly absent; below black bars more numerous and narrower than in No. 373b.

Range.--"New Mexico, Arizona, Lower California, and western Mexico."

(A.O.U.)

=373g. Aiken Screech Owl= (_M. a. aikeni_). A gray color phase only.

W. 6.5. Similar to 373f, but still grayer; almost no buff above; black markings wider on head, back, and underparts.

Range.--"Plains, El Paso County, Colorado, south probably to central New Mexico and northeastern Arizona." (A.O.U.)

=373h. MacFarlane Screech Owl= (_M. a. macfarlanei_). A gray color phase only. _Ads._ Of the size of _kennicottii_, but with color and markings of _bendirei_. W. 7.2; T. 3.8. (Brewst.)

Range.--"Eastern Was.h.i.+ngton and Oregon to western Montana and probably intermediate regions, and north to the interior of British Columbia."