WOOD-OWL. 365 



Tongue narrow, fleshy, sagittate and papillate at the 

 base. 



Nostrils roundish, medial, near the ridge, in the fore 

 edge of the cere, which is timiid behind them. Eyes 

 very large, sliglitly mobile, obliquely situated; eyelids 

 without distinct ciliary fringes, and with broad papil- 

 late thin margins, the upper very large. Conch of the 

 ear subelliptical, extending from the base of the lower 

 jaw to the level of the superciliary ridge, with an an- 

 terior semicircular operculum extending along its whole 

 length ; the meatus or aperture of the ear oblique, el- 

 liptical, at the lower part of an oblong deep cavity 

 which is half the length of the concha. 



Head very large, broad behind, somewhat triangu- 

 lar, flattened and sloping above, the sides flattish and 

 sloping forwards ; neck short, slender, but seeming ex- 

 tremely thick on account of the great mass of feathers ; 

 body short, slender, deeper than broad, much com- 

 pressed behind. Legs of moderate length, stout; tibiae 

 rather long ; tarsi short, feathered ; toes also short, and 

 covered above with feathers having hair-like separated 

 barbs, with two scutella at the end, tuberculate and 

 covered with flattened papillae beneath ; the first very 

 short, and admitting of much lateral motion, the fourtli 

 next in length and reversible, the third longest, but 

 not much exceeding the second ; claws long, curved, 

 tapering, very acute, rounded above, compressed, the 

 sides slightly convex and inclinate, the lower surface 

 naiTow and edged, that of the third toe sharp, with a 

 thin dilated inner edge. 



Plumage soft and very full, compact on the upper 

 parts, blended beneath. Facial disks very large, com- 



