204 STRIGIDH, OWLS. —GEN. 143, 144. 
Tufts long and conspicuous, of 8-12 feathers; ear parts immense, with a 
semicircular flap; facial disk complete; tarsi and toes feathered. 14-15 
long; wing 11-12; tail 5-6. Temperate North America, common. WILs., 
vi, 73, pl. 51, f. 3; Nurr., i, 130; Avup.,1; 136, pl. 37; Cass. im Bps, 
da, COOP., 4262. 5 3 2°. = « = 4. =) VULGARIS var. WIESONDUMUAE 
143. Genus BRACHYOTUS Gould. 
Short-eared Owl. Fulvous or buffy-brown, paler or whitey-brown below ; 
breast and upper parts broadly and thickly streaked with dark brown, belly 
usually sparsely streaked with the same, but not barred crosswise; quills 
and tail buff, with few dark bands, and mottling; facial area, legs and cris- 
sum pale, unmarked ; eye patch blackish. With the size and form of the last 
species, but readily seen to be different; ear tufts small and inconspicuous, 
few-feathered. Temperate North America, abundant; not appreciably 
different from the European. WitsS., iv, 64, pl. 33, f. 3; Nurr., i, 132; 
Aup., i, 140, pl. 38; Cass. in Bp., 54; Coop., 427. . . . PALUSTRIS. 
144. Genus SYRNIUM Savigny. 
*,* Large owls, without ear-tufts, the facial disks complete and of great extent, 
the eyes comparatively small, the ear parts moderate, operculate, the tarsi and 
toes fully feathered. 
Great Gray Owl. Above, cinereous-brown, mottled in waves with cine- 
reous-white ; below, these colors rather paler, disposed in streaks on the 
breast, in bars elsewhere ; quills and tail with five or six darker and lighter 
bars; the great disk similarly marked in regular concentric rings. An 
immense owl, one of the largest of all, much exceeding any other of this 
country ; about 23 feet long, the wing 14, the tail a foot or more. Arctic 
Am., irregularly S. into the northern U.S. in winter. Bonar., Am. Orn. 
pl. 23, f. 2; Sw. and Ricw., F- B.-A. ii, 77, pl. 31; Aup., 1, 130; pl..35)5 
Nutr., i, 128; Cass. in Bp., 56; Coop., 433. LAPPONICUM var. CINEREUM. 
Barred Owl. Above, cinereous-brown, barred with white, often tinged 
with fulvous ; below, similar, paler, the markings in Jars on the breast, in 
streaks elsewhere; quills and tail feathers barred 
with brown and white with an ashy or fulvous 
tinge. Length about 18; wing 13-14; tail 9. 
Eastern North America, common. WItzs., iv, 61, 
pleda, t. 2; Numa.) 135); Ate loa sep lec Ou 
Cass. in Bp., 56; Coor., 431. . . NEBULOSUM. 
Western Barred Owl. Resembling the last, 
but easily distinguished: general: color warm 
brown; the white bars above broken into spots 
particularly towards and on the head; below, the markings in bars every- 
where; wings and tail closely barred. Fort Tejon, Cala.; one specimen 
known. Xanrus, Proc. Phila. Acad. 1859, 193; Bp., B. N. A. 1860, p. 
vy, pl. 66 (not in the Government edition) ; Coor., 480. . OCCIDENTALE. 
Fic. 137. Barred Owl. 
