17. NYCTALA. 285 



p. 154 ; Salvad Fmm.'Ital. Ucc. p. 28 ; SMley, B. Egypt, p. 177 ; 



Sharpe Sf Dresser, li. Uur. pt. xiv. 

 Nyctale richardsoni, £p. Comp. List B. Eur. Sf N. Am. p. 7 ; Gray, 



Gen. B. i. p. 40 ; Bp. Conxp. i. p. 54 ; JStricJd. Orn. Syn. p. 176 ; 



Cass. B. Calif, and Texas, p. 185 ; id. B. N. Am. p. 57 ; Gray, 



Iland-l. B. i. p. 51. 

 Nyctale dasypus, Gray, List Gen. B. 1840, p. 6. 

 Nyctale funerea, Bp. Cat. Metod. Ucc. Eur. p. 24 ; id. Consp. i. p. 54 ; 



Kaup, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 104 ; id. Tr. Z. S. iv. p. 207 ; Fritsch, 



Viig. Eur. tab. 11. fig. 1, tab. 1.3. fig.8 ; Jauh. Sf Barth. Lap. Rich. 



Orn. p. 83 ; Gray, Hand-l. i. p. 51. 

 Nyctale miuor, Brthm, Naum. 1855, p. 370. 

 Nyctale bffidekeri, Brchm, Naum. 1855, p. 370. 

 Uliila funerea, ScJd. Mus. P.-B. Striges, p. 8. 

 Symium fiiuereum, Ileuyl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. i. p. 123. 

 Nyctale tengmalnii, var. richardsoui. Bidqtc. Am. Nat. 1871, p. 285 • 



Coues, Key N.A. Birds, p. 206; Bidg'w. N.A. Birds, iii. p. 40- 



Coues, B. N. W. p. 313. ' I - 



Nestling. All over of a dull sooty browu, ligliter on under surface 

 of body, and inclining to chocolate on the upper ; the remains of 

 nestling-down of a white colour ; on the wing-coverts some veiy 

 large oval spots of white ; lores, forehead, eyebrow, and chin more 

 or less whitish, under surface of body slightly varied with whitish 

 near the base of the feathers. 



Young. Everywhere chocolate-brown, much deeper on the sides 

 of the face and ear-coverts ; the lores, anterior part of cheeks, and 

 feathers over the eye white, the former obscured with blackish 

 bristles ; wing-coverts with distinct oval markings of white on the 

 outer web, the quills also marked with spots of white on both webs, 

 but more distinctly on the outer one ; scapulars and upper tail- 

 coverts with concealed white bases ; tail brown, crossed with three 

 rows of white spots, not continuous across the feather ; under sur- 

 face of body chocolate-brown, the breast and abdomen mottled with 

 white, the bases of the feathers being of this colour ; leg- feathers 

 and under tail-coverts yellowish white, slightly spotted with brown. 



AduU female. Above rather light brown, "thickly mottled with 

 white all over the upper surface, the back varied with broad 

 concealed bars of white, the scapulars with a largo oval spot of 

 the same near their outer webs ; fore part and sides of crown 

 rather darker than the back, thickly mottled with triangular spots 

 of white, the hinder pirt of the crown lighter brown, the white 

 markings larger and the plumage generally more lax ; hind neck 

 and wig light brown, with very broad bars of white ; wing-coverts 

 brown, the least ones nearly uniform, the median and greater series 

 marked on the outer web with large oval spots of white ; quills 

 brown, tipped with greyish, spotted on the outer web and broadly 

 notched on the inner web with white; upper tail-coverts light 

 brown, broadly barred with white; tail brown, crossed with five 

 rows of white bars; lores, a broad eyebrow, and sides of face 

 generally white, the feathers in front of the eye blackish, the lores 

 also obscured by blackish bristles, many of the plumes above the eye 

 with a black tip to the shaft-line, the oar-coverts slightly inclining 



