of the District of Montreal, 71 



1st. Subdivision. 

 Heads with ears. 

 S. Virginianus. Great Horned Owl, 

 Bubo Virginianus. Gmelin ! BoDap! Baird! 



v.s.p. «k V. Upper mandible black; lower one horn colour;* 

 claws pale at their insertion, changing to black towards their 

 tips, irides bright yellow. Eggs 2 to 4, white, large. 



Dorsal aspect : — Facial disk immediately round and in front of 

 the orbits greyish black, bordered with reddish brown — the shafts 

 of the feathers being continued beyond the vanes, and forming a 

 kind of fringe. This frinire is bounded by a black border. Above 

 the eye the facial circle is incomplete. Ear-tufts of 10 to 12 

 feathers, black on the outer vanes, and mottled brown on the 

 inner vanes, the smaller posterior ones being wholly brown. 

 Crown,neck, back, rump, scapulars, and wing coverts black, mottled 

 with grey and brown, the light brown bases of the feathers ap- 

 pearing often through the black tips : the grey white on the back 

 having an undulatory appearance. Primaries and secondaries 

 mottled and barred, the inner vanes presenting on their quill 

 halves a fine reddish brown colour, barred with dark brown. 

 These vanes have a peculiar velvety feel, caused by a fine fringe 

 projecting from the superior outer margin of each barb. The 

 reddish brown almost changes to an orange on the secondaries. 

 Tail banded with six blackish brown bars ; the bars most 

 distinct on the inner vanes, which are reddish brown, while the 

 outer vanes, besides the bars, are much mottled with grey and 

 brown. 



Ventral aspect. Chin \vhite, succeeded by a belt, which is 

 continuous with the black border of the facial disk. This belt is 

 succeeded by a crescentic spot of pure white, situated at the 

 lower part of the throat. A little below the crescent, and separ- 

 ated from it by an irregular line of black and brown, commences 

 a mesial line of pure white, broad at its commencement, gradually 

 contracting and terminating at the vent. On either side of this 

 line the feathers are white, barred with numerous fine zigzag de- 

 lineations of umber brown, with lighter edgings, the yellow 

 bases of the feathers appearing through them ; flank feathers about 

 6^ inches long, enveloping the thighs and forming a kind of 

 fringe underneath the tail ; they are much barred ; inner wing 

 coverts white, barred with umber brown ; tail light reddish brown, 

 distinctly barred ; femorals yellowish brown ; tarsal feathers 



