, COMMON SCREECH-OWL. 389 



eight or ten inches, when it gradually contracts to the 

 insertion of the cieca, where its diameter is one-twelfth 

 and a half. The cceca, which are two inches and a 

 quarter long, are, at their commencement, of the same 

 diameter as the intestine, and scarcely enlarge for near- 

 ly an inch, but then greatly dilate, and near their 

 rounded termination have a diameter of three-twelfths, 

 the membranes by which they are attached to the in- 

 testine being also about three-twelfths in breadth. 

 Tiie cloaca, which is funnel-shaped, is, when distended, 

 nearly an inch in diameter. The whole length of the 

 intestine is twenty-three inches, and the cceca come off 

 at the distance of three inches from its extremity. 

 The liver is very large, of two nearly equal lobes ; the 

 gall-bladder large, its duct entering about six inches 

 below the pylorus. 



The bill is yellowish-white, the cere and inside of 

 the mouth pale flesh-colour ; the iris black ; the mar- 

 gins of the eyelids dark brown ; the scales of the toes 

 dusky ; the claws dark purplish-grey. The facial disks 

 are white, with a large brownish-yellow spot before the 

 eye ; the ruif reddish-yellow over the bill and along the 

 sides of the head, white behind, and below tovvards the 

 l)ill slightly tipped with brown. The general colour of 

 the upper parts is light reddish-yellow, beautifully va- 

 riegated with ash-grey, each feather having its extre- 

 mity of the latter colour, minutely undulated or dotted 

 with darker, and having near its tip a small oblong- 

 whitish spot, accompanied by one or two smaller brown- 

 ish-black spots. The quills are of the general colour, 

 minutely dotted, the primaries with four indistinct bars 

 of brown, and having more than half the breadth of 



