MOEPHOLOGY OF THE OWLS. 247 



'Rhami^hotlieca. — Cere of considerable extent, very slightly inflated. 

 Podotheca. — Claws rounded, not much curved. 



TJropyglmn. — Napiform, with a very marked tendency towards the elongate-conical 

 form of the Buboniuas. 



Strnium uralense, Pall. 



The pterylosis of this species differs only in the following details from S. aluco. 



Pteryla capitis : — 



Inter ramal area. — With a lateral branch rimning at aright angle to join the 

 ramal area in the region of the gape, as in S. aluco. A short distance behind this lateral 

 branch it forms a broad expansion merging with the ramal area. 



Apit. colli laterals. — Extends upwards and forwards to the level of the angle of the 

 exoccipital wing of the tympanic. 



Ft. spinalis. — Branches of the lumbar fork rising near the anterior border of the 

 ilium, not widely divergent, running up to, but not quite joining, the free ends of the 

 branches of the interscajmlar fork, thus enclosing a median s^iace. The stem not 

 extending backwards so far as in ^S*. aluco, but terminating some distance in front of the 

 uropygium. 



Pt. alaris. — The 6th major covert of the ciibital series shoi'ter than the 5tli ; the 

 remainder of the other coverts moulting. " Carpal remex " penuaceous, as large as its 

 covert, thus differing from that of S. aluco, in which this feather is semiplumous and 

 markedly smaller than its covert. 



External aperture of the ear symmetrical, its vertical axis slightly longer than the 

 longitudinal axis of the closed eyelid. 



Uropygium. — Napiform, with a long terminal tube. 



Ntctala tengmalmi, Gm. 



Pteryla capitis : — 



Loreal area. — Not sharply defined, with an apterium at its base, almost dividing 

 the area into two portions, an interior and a posterior, the former including the greater 

 part of the area. The apterium, which is very narrow, arises in the region in front of 

 the eye, on a level with its anterioi- corner, and runs downward and then upward so as 

 to partly encircle the eye, terminating rather above the level of its posterior corner. 

 This apterium differs from that of Speotyto in that it fails to divide this area into two, 

 in that it is less wide, and in that the posterior semi-detached patch is much less in size 



C i r c u m a u r a 1 are a. — The bases of the feathers seated along the free edge of the 

 preaural fold form a rim ; lying in front of, and parallel with the rim, is a single row of 

 feathers — as in Asio — banded on either side of the apterium. 



The feathers running along the free edge of the postaural fold are densely packed, their 

 bases of insertion forming a " rim " to the fold. From the base to within a short 

 distance of the superior limb of the fold the feathers seated on this free edge are directed 



second series. — ZOOLOGY, VOL. VII. 31 



