384 STRix. 



the rectum at its termination much enlarged and fun- 

 nel-shaped. 



Nostrils medial, lateral, large, oblique, somewliat 

 ovate; in the fore edge of the cere, with a tough soft mem- 

 brane above, and having internally a ridge curved back- 

 wards from the inner edge. Eyes very large, slightly 

 mobile, obliquely situated ; eyelids with ciliary fringes 

 of small distantly barbed feathers, and broad papillate 

 thin margins, which are discontinued at the two canthi ; 

 both eyelids equally mobile. Aperture of the ear very 

 large, sub rectangular, oblique, with an upper and a 

 lower somewhat elevated margin, and a large, anterior, 

 erect, somewhat semicircular, operculum, extending on 

 each side of the aperture, nearly rectilinear above, and 

 beset with feathers. The conch extends from the base 

 of the bill below to over the eye. 



Head very large, broad behind, somewhat triangular, 

 flattened and sloping above, the sides flattish and slop- 

 ino- forwards ; neck short, slender, but seeming extreme- 

 ly thick on account of the great mass of feathers ; body 

 slender, deeper than broad, much compressed behind. 

 Legs rather long, moderately stout ; tibiae propol'tional- 

 ly long, but muscular ; tarsi of moderate length, round- 

 ed, covered with small downy feathers ; toes short, co- 

 vered above with transverse series of small scales, be- 

 tween which are adpressed bristles, with a few scutella 

 at the end, tuberculate, and covered with flattened pa- 

 pillae beneath, the third and fourth connected by a very 

 small basal membrane, the first shortest and admitting 

 of much lateral motion, the fourth next in length, and 

 capable of being placed at a right angle to the third, 

 which is scarcely longer than the second ; claws long, 



