MOTTLED TUFTED-OWL. 407 



The bill is brownish-black, the cere and inside of the 

 mouth flesh-coloured ; the claws black. The irides are 

 orange. The colouring of the plumage may be de- 

 scribed as buff, mottled and spotted with brown and 

 greyish-white. Of the circle of loose feathers sur- 

 rounding the eye, the anterior half is whitish, the tips 

 black, the posterior buff. The anterior auricular ruff 

 is whitish, tipped with black, but is generally conceal- 

 ed ; the posterior is bright red, mottled with brownish- 

 black. The upper part of the head is minutely mottled 

 with whitish, brownish-black, and light red. The two 

 tufts on the temples, of which the largest feathers are 

 an inch and a half in length, are light reddish towards 

 the base, brownish -black in the central part to the end, 

 the inner edge white, mottled with dark-brown. The 

 general colour of the upper parts is buff, variegated 

 with brown and whitish-grey, minutely mottled or un- 

 dulatingly barred. The first row of coverts is tipped 

 with white on the outer web ; the edge of the wing 

 and the outer margin of the first alular feather are also 

 white. The alula and primary coverts are greyish- 

 brown barred with darker ; the quills and scapulars 

 pale grey, barred with dark-brown, and having more 

 or less buff towards the base of the outer web, that co- 

 lour conspicuous on the six outer primaries. The tail 

 is barred and mottled in the same manner, the bars 

 very narrow, ten on the middle and eight on the outer 

 feathers. The lower parts are in general similar to the 

 upper, but with more buff, and fewer spots, each fea- 

 ther with a long dark brown streak and several irregu- 

 lar transverse bars. The legs and toes are pure buff. 

 The lower surface of the wing is yellowish- white, a 



