

BUBO. 291 



covered with close and fine yellowish white downy 

 feathers. 



In different specimens, the huff orange is often 

 much deeper in intensity, and of a clearer shade ; 

 in the female it prevails more on the lower parts, 

 the marking on the hack and wings is more solid 

 or massed together, and the egrets are shorter, 

 often so much so as to be scarcely visible. In a 

 Chinese specimen before us, apparently a female, 

 we have the marking remarkably bold and dis- 

 tinct, the lighter tints very vivid. 



The irides bright gamboge yellow. Length 

 generally from fourteen to fifteen inches. 



CUVIER has employed the title Bubo to dis- 

 tinguish those Owls which have the tarsi feathered 

 and the head adorned with egrets, as in the genus 

 Otus, but having the facial disk more imperfect and 

 the conchal opening small. He assumes for the 

 type the European Eagle Owl ; the Large Vir- 

 ginian Horned-Owl is also closely allied, and we 

 believe the form extends to Africa and India. 

 The birds are all of large size ; the habits partly 

 sylvan and nocturnal, but they breed in bleak and 

 woodless regions. When disturbed during the 

 day, they do not shew that great sensibility to 

 light which the White Owl and its congeners 

 display. 



