367 



ALUCO STRIDULUS. 



THE COMMON WOOD-OWL, BROWN OR TAWNY 

 OWL. 



Of the younger birds of both sexes the upper parts 

 brownish -red, marked with dark brown longitudinal 

 streaks, and principally mottled with the same, the 

 lower pale greyish-yellow, with longitudinal linear- 

 lanceolate and undulated transverse dark brown mark- 

 ings. Of old birds the upper parts greyish-brown, the 

 lower reddish-white, marked as in the younger. In all 

 stages, large white spots on some of the outer scapu- 

 lars and ^ving-coverts. 



Male The common wood-owl has the head pro- 

 portionally larger and broader than that of any other 

 British species ; the neck remarkably thick, the body 

 bulky, the feet strong and closely feathered. But its 

 great apparent bulk is caused by its profuse elastic 

 downy plumage ; for its body is short and thin, and its 

 neck slender. 



The bill is short, strong, compressed, its upper out- 

 line curved from the base, the sides rapidly sloping, 

 the tip prolonged downwards, acute, and at the end 

 perpendicular ; the lower mandible has the crura nar- 

 row and flexile, the angle broad and rounded, the short 

 dorsal line slightly convex, the edges anteriorly curved, 

 with a sinus close to the truncato-rotundate tip. The 



