_Strix Flammea_ Pontoppidan, Danske, Atlas, 1, 1763, p. 617, pl.
25. (Type locality, Sweden.)
_Strix stridula_ Quoy and Gaimard, Voy. "Uranie," Zool., 1824, pp.
680, 696 (Mariannes); _idem_, Ann. Sci. Nat. Paris, 6, 1825, p.
149 (Mariannes).
_Otus brachyotus_ Hartlaub, Journ. f. Ornith., 1854, p. 167
(Mariannen); Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876, pp.
17, 18 (Mariannen?).
_Asio accipitrinus_ Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und Ber. Zool.
Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 3 (Marianne); Oustalet
(part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895, p. 168
(Mariannes); Hartert, Novit. Zool., 5, 1898, p. 51 (Marianne);
Seale, Occ. Papers Bernice P. Bishop Mus., 1, 1901, p. 44
(Mariannes); Safford, Osprey, 1902, p. 68 (Marianas); _idem_,
Amer. Anthro., 4, 1902, p. 711 (Guam); _idem_, The Plant World, 7,
1904, p. 263 (Tinian); _idem_, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb., 9, 1905,
p. 79 (Tinian); Prowazek, Die deutschen Marianen, 1913, p. 88
(Marianen).
_Asi accipitrimus_ Wheeler, Report Island of Guam, 1900, p. 12
(Guam).
_Asio flammeus sandwichensis_ Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 61 (Marianne); Hand-list Japanese Birds
(part), rev., 1932, p. 182 (Marianas).
_Asio flammeus ponapensis_ Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d
ed., 1942, p. 202 (Pagan).
_Asio flammeus flammeus_ Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p.
292 (Marianas).
_Geographic range._--Breeds in Europe, Asia, and North America.
Winters to tropics. In Micronesia: Mariana Islands--Pagan, Tinian.
_Remarks._--The Short-eared Owl was taken at Tinian by Quoy and Gaimard
(1824:680, 696) and in recent years has been recorded at Pagan. The
committee which prepared the Hand-list of Japanese Birds (Hachisuka _et
al._, 1942:202) writes that the bird taken at Pagan has a short wing
(288) and indicates that it belongs to _A. f. ponapensis_. In the
present work this bird is considered to be _A. f. flammeus_, a migrant
from Asia; possibly, however, there is an unrecorded resident population
of the Short-eared Owl in the northern Marianas, which may be closely
related to _A. f. ponapensis_ of Ponapé. Owls may have at one time been
resident in the southern Marianas. At Guam, for instance, owls are well
known to the native peoples, and there is suitable habitat for the owl
in the extensive grassland areas of the island. Perhaps an owl was
resident at Guam and at other islands but has been eliminated partly by
the overgrazing and burning of the grassy habitats preferred by the
owl.
=Asio flammeus ponapensis= Mayr