Size small; facial disc nearly or quite obsolete; tarsi generally partially or but thinly clothed with feathers; head without ear-tufts. A numerous group of species, which are generally small and not so nocturnal as those of the preceding sub-families.
I. GENUS ATHENE. Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 549.
Size small; head moderate, without ear-tufts; wings long, with the third and fourth quills usually longest; tail moderate; facial disc, nearly obsolete; bill short; upper mandible curved from the base, nearly concealed by projecting feathers; tarsi long, thinly covered with feathers; toes naked or with a few hair-like feathers. A genus containing about forty species of small Owls of all quarters of the globe.
1. Athene hypugœa. (Bonap.) The Burrowing Owl. Strix hypugœa. Bonap., Am. Orn., I. p. 72. (1825.) Athene socialis. Gambel, Proc. Acad., Philada., III. p. 47. (1846.)
Bonap., Am. Orn., I, pl. 7, fig. 2. Aud., B. of Am., pl. 432, fig. 1. Oct. ed., pl. 31?
Small; head moderate; tarsi long; slender, thinly covered in front only with hair-like feathers; naked and scaled laterally and behind; toes with a few scattered hairs; claws curved, rather slender. Adult. Entire upper parts light yellowish-brown, every feather more or less spotted with white, and on the neck behind, and back, with large partially concealed spots of white; throat white, a narrow band of mottled brown and white on the neck before, succeeded by a large patch of white; other under parts white, with wide transverse bands of reddish-brown, varying in shade in different specimens; legs and under tail-coverts white; quills light brown, with yellowish-white spots on their outer edges, and reddish-white bands on their inner webs; tail pale brown, with about six irregular bands of yellowish-white; face yellowish-white; bill light yellow and horn-color; irides yellow. Young. Entire plumage much darker than the adult, and with transverse narrow bands and lines of dark brown.
Dimensions. _Male._—Total length, 9 to 10 inches; wing, 7; tail, 4 inches. _Female._—Larger.
Hab. Western North America. Oregon (Dr. Townsend); Nebraska (Dr. Suckley); Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico (Col. McCall); Great Salt Lake (Capt. Stansbury); California (Dr. Heermann); Mexico (Lieut. Couch). Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington city.
