_Asio flammeus ponapensis_ Mayr, Amer. Mus. Novit., no. 609, 1933,
p. 1. (Type locality, Ponapé.)
_Otus brachyotus_ Finsch (part), Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 12, 1876,
pp. 17, 18 (Ponapé); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1877 (1878),
p. 778 (Ponapé); _idem_, Journ. f. Ornith., 1880, p. 283 (Ponapé);
_idem_, Mitth. Ornith. Ver. Wien, 1884, p. 47 (Ponapé); _idem_,
Sammlung wissensch. Vorträge, 14 ser., 1900, p. 659 (Ponapé).
_Asio brachyotus_ Finsch, Ibis, 1881, pp. 113, 114 (Ponapé).
_Asio accipitrinus_ Ridgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 4, 1882, p.
367 (Strong's Island = Kusaie); Wiglesworth (part), Abhandl. und
Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6, 1890-1891 (1891), p. 3 (Ponapé);
Oustalet (part), Nouv. Arch. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris, (3), 7, 1895,
p. 169 (Ponapi).
_Asio flammeus sandwichensis_ Kuroda (part), in Momiyama, Birds
Micronesia, 1922, p. 61 (Ponapé); Hand-list Japanese Birds (part),
rev., 1932, p. 182 (Ponapé).
_Asio flammeus ponapensis_ Kelso, Oölogist, 1938, p. 183 (Kusaie);
Peters, Check-list Birds World, 4, 1940, p. 170 (Ponapé);
Hand-list Japanese Birds (part), 3d ed., 1942, p. 202 (Ponapé);
Mayr, Birds Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 291 (Ponapé).
_Geographic range._--Micronesia: Caroline Islands--Ponapé, Kusaie?
_Characters._--Adult: a large, short-eared owl, dark brown above
streaked with buff and lighter below streaked with dark brown. An
adult female has upper parts dark brown, outer webs of feathers
buffy to give a streaked appearance; rump pale buff, feathers
edged subterminally with darker brown; scapulars like head and
back; wing-coverts dark brown tipped and edged with splotches of
buffy to buffy-rufous; primaries and secondaries brown with large
spots of pale rufous; tail brown barred with whitish buff spots,
webs with dark centers; forehead whitish tinged with buff; region
below and behind eye dark; chin pale with rufous tinged sides;
throat and breast rufous-buff with heavy streaks of brown,
becoming narrower on abdomen and under tail; under wing-coverts
buffy streaked with dark brown; auxilaries buffy; feathering of
tibia and tarsus pale buff; bill dark slate; feet grey-brown; iris
yellow.
Resembles _A. f. flammeus_, but wing shorter and color darker.
_Measurements._--Mayr (1933:2) lists the following measurements
for two adult females: wing, 295, 307; tail, 135, 139; culmen, 17,
17.5; and tarsus, 48, 51.
_Specimens examined._--Total number, 2 females, from Caroline
Islands, AMNH--Ponapé (Dec.).
_Nesting._--Coultas (field notes) writes that the Short-eared Owl
at Ponapé builds its nest in the grass on the ground. He did not
observe the nest but received reports of it from the natives.
_Remarks._--The owl at Ponapé has been known since the time of Kubary.
Coultas, visiting the island in 1930, was the first naturalist to record
very much concerning the habits. According to him (field notes) the bird
inhabits the open grasslands of Ponapé and apparently has somewhat the
same habits as other members of the species. He estimated the population
in 1930 as two dozen or more. He found the birds extremely secretive
during the daylight hours. They were observed flying over the patches of
grassland at twilight and on moonlight nights. He comments that the
catlike call of this owl is heard occasionally in the night. Richards
writes (_in litt._) that twice in late December, 1947, he saw this owl
in a forested area near the summit of Jokaj Island (900 feet).
Kelso (1938:138) records the Short-eared Owl from Kusaie on the basis of
a specimen taken by Gulick, which Ridgway (1882:367) thought came from
the West Indies. The specimen is labeled Strong's Island, which is an
old name for Kusaie. Kelso gives the measurements of this bird as: wing,
275; tail, 141; culmen from cere, 19.5, and comments that the wings are
shorter than those of specimens from Asia. The skin is in the U. S.
National Museum.
The Short-eared Owl at Ponapé closely resembles _A. f. flammeus_ but is
slightly smaller and darker. Apparently the owl came to Ponapé as a
straggler on migration from Asia, and becoming acclimated and adapted to
the grassy areas at Ponapé remained as a resident. The occurrence of _A.
f. flammeus_ in the Marianas on migration offers evidence as to how the
bird originally reached Ponapé.
=Caprimulgus indicus jotaka= Temminck and Schlegel