CHORDA TA 



347 



lower. Two of the toes, the first and fourth, project backward, 

 the other two forward. They are mostly tropical birds, often 



Fig. 344. Bubo virginianus, the great horned Owl. (From a photograph provided b) 

 American Museum of Natural History.) 



with the most brilliantly colored plumage, and varying in size 

 from little species as large as a sparrow to the largest, which 

 measures nearly a meter from tip of beak to tip of tail. Their 



