Note 21 — Family STRIGIDÆ.—The Owls.

Syrnium nebulosum, var. sartorii, Ridgway (Mexican Barred Owl). Hab. Mirador, Mexico. Char. Adult (♀, 43,131, Mirador, near Vera Cruz, Mexico, “pine region”; Dr. C. Sartorius). In general appearance like nebulosum, but the brown very much darker, and less reddish,—that of the markings below very nearly black; the pattern, however, precisely the same, and there is about the same proportion between the light and the dark bars as is seen in the average of nebulosum. The face is plain dirty white without the brown bars or semicircles,—a constant and conspicuous feature in nebulosum. There is the same number of spots on the primaries, and of bands on the tail, as in nebulosum. The white beneath is without any ochraceous tinge; the primary coverts are plain dark brown. Wing-formula: 4–3=5; 1 intermediate between 8 and 9. Wing, 14.80; tail, 9.00; culmen, 1.05; tarsus, 2.20; middle toe, 1.60. This race of the S. nebulosum presents very appreciable differences from the bird of the United States. As stated above, the brown is much darker and less reddish, while the face is wholly destitute of the concentric dusky rings seen in nebulosum proper. To Dr. Charles Sartorius, who, by the presentation to the Smithsonian Institution of numerous elegantly prepared specimens, has added so much to our knowledge of the birds of the vicinity of Mirador, I take great pleasure in dedicating this new form.