GREAT EAGLE-OWL. 43I 



The plumage is very soft, full, and elastic. The fa- 

 cial disks are incomplete, extending only round two- 

 thirds of the eye, leaving the upper part covered with 

 shorter and softer feathers. The eyelids are fringed 

 near the edge with short bristle-tipped feathers, having 

 disunited barbs. The feathers at the base of the cere 

 have strong shafts, and conceal the cere and nostrils. 

 The forepart of the head is much broader than in the 

 genus Ulula, and similar to that of Aluco. The ruff is 

 inconspicuous and incomplete, extending only from a 

 little above the ear to the chin, its feathers oblong and 

 but slightly curved. On each side of the head, over 

 and behind the eye, is a longitudinal series of nine 

 elongated feathers, forming a tuft, which projects two 

 and a half inches beyond the surface of the plumage. 

 The feathers of the upper parts are oblong, rounded, 

 with loose margins ; those of the hind part of the back 

 more downy. Those on the throat are downy ; on the 

 fore neck long and rather compact ; on the thorax and 

 abdomen downy, the latter longer ; but these downy 

 parts are entirely covered by two large bunches of very 

 long soft feathers arising from the fore part and sides 

 of the thorax. There is a similar bunch on the upper 

 and outer side of the tibia. The tibiae, tarsi, and toes, 

 are covered with soft blended feathers. The wings are 

 very large, extremely broad, and rounded. The pri- 

 mary quills are very broad, the first four cut out on 

 the inner web near the tip, but the first and second on- 

 ly are abruptly so; the second, third, and fourth, are 

 slightly cut out on the outer web. The first in its 

 whole length, the second and third towards the end, 

 have the barbs or filaments of the outer web free and 



