STREAKED TUFTED-OWL. 463 



The plumage is extremely soft and blended, although some- 

 what firmer than that of the other species. The facial disks 

 are complete, and composed of circular series of weak, slender, 

 slightly recurved feathers having distant filaments. The ruff 

 is also complete, and composed of oblong, recurved, compact 

 feathers. The cere is bare above, but it and part of the bill 

 are concealed by bristly feathers. On the upper parts the fea- 

 thers are oblong ; those on the hind part of the back entirely 

 downy ; on the lower parts also oblong, and mostly downy ; on 

 the tibiae short, extremely soft, and somewhat silky ; on the 

 tarsi and toes small, soft, and blended. The wings are long, 

 broad, and somewhat rounded ; the primary quills very broad, 

 with slender shafts ; the first sinuate on the inner web, the se- 

 cond faintly so ; the second longest, the third scarcely shorter, 

 the first a little longer than the fourth ; the secondary quills 

 fifteen, broad and rounded ; the first primary in its whole length, 

 the second towards the end, and the first alular feather, with 

 their external barbs disunited and recurved at their points. The 

 tail is rather short, slightly arched, somewhat rounded. 



The bill is brownish-black ; the cere flesh-coloured ; the irides 

 bright yellow ; the claws brownish-black, tinged with grey. 

 The anterior half of the facial disk is white, the feathers with 

 black tips ; the posterior yellowish with black shafts ; and 

 the eye is surrounded by a ring of brownish-black, which is 

 much broader behind. The ruft- feathers are yellowish, with 

 an oblong brownish-black spot. The upper part of the head, 

 hind-neck, and fore part of the back, are reddish-yellow, with 

 the central part of each feather dark-brown. The scapulars 

 and wing- coverts are spotted and banded in large patches with 

 the same colour, many of them having also a large yellowish- 

 white spot on the outer web near the end. The edge of the 

 wing is whitish ; the alula and primary coverts dark brown, 

 the outer webs pale bufi^" at the base ; the quills buft', with a 

 narrow space along the shafts, the ends, and two or three broad 

 bands, dark brown. The tail is buff", with five broad bands of 

 brown, the tip yellowish-white : the two middle feathers with 

 the light-coloured spaces ocellate, having a brown patch in the 

 middle. The lower parts are pale buff, whitish behind ; the 



