Wing, 7.00–7.50; tail, 3.30–4.00; culmen, .70; tarsus, 1.70–1.85; middle toe, .85. Outer tail-feathers and inner webs of primaries with the white much greater in amount than the brown (sometimes continuous along outer webs of the latter). Hab. Southern South America (Chile, Buenos Ayres, Paraguay, etc.) … var. cunicularia.[37]
Wing, 6.40–7.00; tail, 3.00–3.30; culmen, .50–.60; tarsus, 1.50–1.70; middle toe, .80. Outer tail-feathers and inner webs of the primaries with the white less in extent than the brown (never continuous along outer webs of the primaries). Hab. Middle America, and Western Province of North America … var. hypogæa.
B. Primaries without broad or regular bars of whitish on either web; primary coverts plain brown.
Brown markings on the lower parts regularly transverse, and equal in extent to the white. White spots on the upper parts very small, reduced to mere specks on the dorsal region.
Wing, 6.40; tail, 3.40; culmen, .60; tarsus, 1.82; middle toe, .85. Outer tail-feathers and inner webs of the primaries with the light (ochraceous) bars only about one fourth as wide as the brown (disappearing on the inner quills). Hab. Guadeloupe … var. guadeloupensis.[38]
Spheotyto cunicularia, var. hypogæa, Bonap.
BURROWING OWL.
Strix hypogæa, Bonap. Am. Orn. I, 72, 1825. Athene hypogæa, Bonap. Consp. Av. p. 39, 1850.—Woodh. (Sitgr.) Expl. Zuñi and Colorado, p. 62, 1853.—Cass. Birds N. Am. 1858, 59.—Newb. P. R. R. Rept. VI, 77, 1857.—Coop. & Suck. P. R. R. Rept. XII, ii, 157, 1860.—Gray, Hand List, I, 52, 1869. Speotyto cunicularia, var. hypogæa, (Ridgway) Coues, Key, 1872, 207. Strix cunicularia (not of Molina!), Aud. B. Am. pl. ccccxxxii, 1831; Orn. Biog. V, 264; Synop. p. 22.—Nutt. Man. Orn. p. 118, 1844.—Bonap. Am. Orn. p. 68, pl. vii, f. 2, 1825; Ann. Lyc. N. Y. II, 36.—James. (Wils.), Am. Orn. IV, 30.—Say, Long’s Exp. Rocky Mts., II, 36, 200. Ulula cunicularia, Jard. (Wils.) Am. Orn. III, 325, 1832. Athene cunicularia, Bonap. List, p. 6; Consp. Av. p. 38. Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 160, 1855.—Cassin, Birds N. Am. 1858, 60.—Coop. & Suck. P. R. R. Rept. XII, II, 157, 1860.—Canfield, Am. Nat. 1869, 583 (habits). Strix californica, Aud. B. Am. pl. ccccxxxii, 1831. Athene socialis, Gamb. Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. III, 47, 1846.
Sp. Char. Adult. Above earth-brown, the whole surface covered with numerous spots of dull white,—those on the scapulars roundish, and in pairs (on both webs); of similar form, but larger and more sparse, on the wings. Anteriorly they become more longitudinal (nearly linear), and medial; on the rump and upper tail-coverts, they are nearly obsolete. Secondaries crossed by four distinct bands of dull white, the last terminal; primaries with five to six transverse series of semi-rounded spots of ochraceous-white on their outer webs; primary coverts with about three transverse series of whitish spots. Tail with five to six bands of dull white, or pale ochraceous (the last terminal), composed of transverse oval spots, those on the middle pair of feathers not touching either the shaft or the edge. Ear-coverts uniform brown, becoming gradually paler beneath the eye and on the cheeks; eyebrows, a transverse chin-patch,—covering the whole chin and jaw and reaching back beneath the auriculars, and another across the jugulum, immaculate cottony-white; shafts of the loral bristles blackish; a broad, well-defined collar across the throat, between the white malar and jugular bands, deep brown, mixed with paler spots.
Beneath white with a faint ochraceous tinge, especially on the legs; the breast, abdomen, and sides with transverse spots of brown, this often predominating on the breast; legs, anal region, and crissum, immaculate. Whole lining of the wing immaculate creamy-white, the primary coverts, however, with large terminal spots of dusky; under surface of the primaries grayish-brown, deeper terminally, and with large, transversely ovate spots of ochraceous-white (about five in number on the longest quill), and growing larger basally.