112 



STRIGID.E. 



a mixture of reddisli brown and dark brown, tlie darker colour 

 occupying the centre of each feather, forming streaks ; the 

 other parts of the w^eb mottled ; wing-primaries and tail- 

 feathers similar in colour, but barred transversely ; the fea- 

 thers of the facial disk light brown speckled with greyish 

 black, those under the disk white ; breast pale brown, with 

 longitudinal patches of dark brown ; belly, under tail-coverts, 

 thighs, legs, and toes, pale brown, with numerous narrow 

 transverse bars of dark brown ; under surface of tail-feathers 

 dusky brown, barred with pale brown ; claws long, curved, 

 and black. The whole length of a specimen is from twenty- 

 four to twenty-eight inches, the difference depending upon 

 sex and age. Two preserved specimens of females in the 

 Museum of the Zoological Society are darker in the general 

 colour of their plumage than a male in the same collection, 

 and both have the throat white. They are old birds. 



