TAWNY HOOTING-OWL. 439 



than that of any other British species ; but for this portliness it 

 is indebted chiefly to its ample covering of extremely soft fea- 

 thers, for when plucked, its body is very small, and its muscu- 

 lar apparatus of very moderate development. 



The bill is short, rather stout, considerably compressed ; the 

 upper mandible with its outline decurved from the base, the 

 sides rapidly sloping, slightly convex, the tip acute and decurved; 

 the lower mandible with the crura narrow, the angle wide and 

 rounded, the dorsal line short and slightly convex, the edges 

 anteriorly decurved, with a sinus close to the tip, which is 

 obliquely rounded. 



The mouth is very wide, measuring an inch and three-fourths 

 across; the palate flattened, with two lateral 'longitudinal soft 

 ridges, and an anterior tuberculate ridge running to the tip of 

 the mandible ; the lower mandible deeply concave, with a pro- 

 minent median line. The tongue small, seven-twelfths long, 

 concave above, and emarginate. The oesophagus is five inches 

 in length, very wide, without dilatation ; the proventriculus 

 with a belt of very small cylindrical glandules, and gradually 

 enlarged into the stomach, which is when inflated two inches in 

 diameter, roundish ; its muscular coat very thin, being com- 

 posed of a single series of distinct fasciculi ; the centi'al tendons 

 very thin and roundish ; the inner coat soft and slightly rugous. 

 The pylorus is extremely narrow, and closed by a thin valvular 

 margin. The intestine is twenty -five inches long, from four- 

 twelfths to two-twelfths in width. The cceca, which come oft' 

 at the distance of three inches from the extremity, are oblong, 

 narrowed toward the base, three inches in length, four-twelfths 

 in their greatest width. 



The nostrils are roundish, in the fore edge of the cere, which 

 is somewhat prominent behind them, and although bare above 

 and anteriorly, concealed by the bristly feathers at the base of 

 the bill. The eyes are very large, oblique, slightly mobile ; 

 the eyelids with a bare crenate margin. The conch of the ear 

 is of a somewhat elliptical form, an inch and a twelfth in length, 

 extending from near the top of the head to the base of the lower 

 jaw, having an elevated margin behind, and a distinct semi- 

 circular operculum before, both beset with linear-oblong feathers. 



