AVES STRIGID^. 



677 



showing. Rest of the head yellowish buff, the median brown stripes on 

 each feather being wider than the marginal buffy shade. 



Neck : Above and on the sides like the head ; chin and throat dirty 

 whitish. 



Back: Interscapular region and lower back with the median brown 

 stripes as wide as the marginal buff portions of the feathers ; the rump with 

 obsolete or faint crescentic marks ; upper tail-coverts nearly or quite 

 immaculate buffy yellow. 



Tail : The buffy yellow ground-color becomes lighter at the edges and 

 ends of the rectrices ; this ground-color is crossed by five or six broad 

 brown bands equal in width to the buffy interspaces ; the terminal buffy yel- 

 low band is wider than the others ; the barring is most definite on the cen- 

 tral and inner feathers, the basal ones often becoming broken or not well 

 defined on the outer rectrices. 



Fig. 346. 



Asio flammcus, showing the relative length of primaries. One-half natural size. 



Wings : The upper wing-coverts like the interscapular region but rather 

 darker and the markings not so regular and inclined to be more like bars 

 than stripes ; quills ruddy buff, shading to silvery at their tips, each feather 

 being plainly and definitely checkered with brown bars, narrowest on the 

 inner webs. 



Lower parts : Chin and throat whitish, or dirty white ; all the rest of the 

 under parts buffy yellow ; streaked everywhere, except on the vent, lower 

 tail-coverts and legs, including the thighs, with narrow median stripes of 

 deep brown on each feather ; the buffy yellow areas being wider than the 



