Though this genus is cosmopolitan, the species are few in number; two of them (_O. vulgaris_ and _O. brachyotus_) are common to both North America and Europe, one of them (the latter) found also in nearly every country in the world. Besides these, South Africa has a peculiar species (_O. capensis_) while Tropical America alone possesses the _O. stygius_. Otus vulgaris, var. wilsonianus, LESS. LONG-EARED OWL; LESSER-HORNED OWL. _? Strix peregrinator_ (_?_), BART. Trav. 1792, p. 285.—CASS. B. Cal. & Tex. 1854, 196. _Asio peregrinator_, STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 207. _Otus wilsonianus_, LESS. Tr. Orn. 1831, 110.—GRAY, Gen. fol. sp. 2, 1844.—IB. List Birds Brit. Mus. p. 105.—CASS. Birds Cal. & Tex. 1854, 81.—IB. Birds N. Am. 1858, 53.—COOP. & SUCK. 1860, 155.—COUES, Prod. 1866, 14. _Otus americanus_, BONAP. List, 1838, p. 7.—IB. Consp. p. 50.—WEDERB. & TRISTR. Cont. Orn. 1849, p. 81.—KAUP, Monog. Strig. Cont. Orn. 1852, 113.—IB. Trans. Zoöl. Soc. IV, 1859, 233.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 25.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 1869, No. 540, p. 50. _Strix otus_, WILS. Am. Orn. 1808, pl. li, f. 1.—RICH. & SW. F. B. A. II, 72.—BONAP. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, 37.—IB. Isis, 1832, 1140.—AUD. Orn. Biog. IV, 572.—IB. Birds Am. pl. ccclxxxiii.—PEAB. Birds, Mass. 88. _Ulula otus_, JARD. ed. Wils. Am. Orn. I, 1831, 104.—BREWER, ed. Wils. Am. Orn. Synop. p. 687.—NUTT. Man. 130. _Otus vulgaris_ (not of Fleming!), JARDINE, ed. Wils. Am. Orn. 1832, II, 278.—AUD. Synop. 1831, 28.—GIRAUD, Birds Long Island, p. 25. _Otus vulgaris_, var. _wilsonianus_ (RIDGWAY), COUES, Key, 1872, 204. _Bubo asio_, DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 25, pl. xii, f. 25.