630 



S YS TEMA TIC S YNOPSIS. — RAP TORES — STRIGES. 



longest, first 2 or 3 emarginate near their ends. Tail rounded, more than i as long as wing, 

 its under coverts not reaching its end. Feet densely feathered to last .]\)int of toes, but claws 

 exposed. Of medium and very large size (some species are nearly the largest of Owls), and 

 variegated, usually dark, colors ; plumage not dichromatic. Embracing numerous species, of 

 all America and nearly all of the Old World ; only one, however, in North America, with sev- 

 eral ill-defined subspecies. 



B. virginia'nus. (Lat. virginianus, Virginian. Fig. 43.3.) Great Horned Owl. Hoot 

 Owl. Cat Owl. American Grand Duke. Distinguished by large size and conspicuous ear- 

 tufts, our other species of similar stature 

 being tuftless or nearly so. Length nearly 

 or about 2 feet; extent 4 or 5 feet; wing 

 14.00-16.00 inches; tail 8.00-10.00; tarsus 

 2.00-2.25; culmen without cere 1.10-1.20. 

 9 averaging much larger than ^. Plu- 

 mage varying interminably, no concise de- 

 scription meeting all its phases. A white 

 collar on throat is the most constant color- 

 mark. On the upper parts, the under plu- 

 mage tawny, but so overlaid with coarse 

 mottling of blackish and white, that the 

 tawny shows chiefly on head, nape, and 

 scapulars; mottling chiefly transverse, re- 

 solving into 7 to 9 continuous or broken 

 bars on wings and tail. Under parts white, 

 indefinitely tawny-tinged, and for the most 

 part barred crosswise with blaclvisii, cliang- 

 ing on fore breast to ragged and rather 

 lengthwise blotches. Feathering of feet 

 nearly plain tawny. Ear-tufts black and 

 tawny; a dark mark over eye; border of 

 facial disc black; face white or tawny, but 

 the feathers mostly black-shafted. Bill and 

 claws black ; iris yellow ; pupil always cir- 

 cular ; wlien fully dilated as large as a 

 finger-ring, contractile to size of a pea. 

 Young covered at first with white down ; 

 Fig. 433. -Great Horned Owl. (Frou. The Ooprey.) ^^^^ plumage more uniformly tawuy and 



lighter-colored than it becomes after the first moult, when the white collar and other distinc- 

 tive markings are assumed. This powerful bird, only yielding to the Great Gray Owl in 

 linear dimensions, but not in bulk of body, and inferior to none in spirit or prowess, is a common 

 inhabitant of North America at large, representing B. bubo of Europe. The typical or ordinary 

 form (atlanticus Cass.) occurs throughout Eastern N. Am., N. to Labrador, W. to the E. edge 

 of the Great Plains. It is non-migratory ; breeds in all winter and early spring months (some- 

 times in December, often in January, usually February or March), laying in hollows of trees 

 or rifts of rocks, occasionally on the ground, often in a bulky nest of sticks on the branches of 

 tall trees, then appropriating and renovating that of a Crow, large Hawk, or Eagle. Eggs 

 usually 2 or 3, often 4, rarely more, and 2 the most frequent number, likely to hatch ^ and 

 9; they are thick-shelled, granular, unglossy, colorless, subspherical, about 2.1.5 X l-*0 in 

 size ; duration of incubation about three weeks. The young begin to hoot when about 4 

 months old. If taken early enough from the nest, they may become docile and even affectionate ; 



