166 LITTLE OWL. 



white, besides other smaller spots, the shafts being dusky. 

 Primaries, brown, spotted with white or yellowish brown on 

 the outer webs in some specimens on each web; those on 

 the inner, which are lighter, are larger, and together they 

 form bars which partly shew through; the third is the 

 longest, the fourth nearly as long, the second a very little 

 longer than the fifth, the first shorter than the sixth, and 

 the shortest in the wing. Secondaries, brown, barred with 

 white, shaded at the edges of the bars into reddish brown j 

 tertiaries, as the back; greater and lesser under wing coverts, 

 white, with a few brown spots. Tail, brownish grey, with 

 four, five, or six bars of rounded yellowish white or pale 

 brown spots, and whitish at the tip: it is nearly even, and 

 consists of twelve broad rounded feathers: beneath it^is dull 

 greyish brown, faintly barred with yellowish brown; tail 

 coverts, as the back; under tail coverts, unspotted; legs, 

 rather long, greyish yellow, feathered with short hairy yellowish 

 white feathers, tinged with rufous, with a few dusky spots; 

 toes, greyish yellow, slightly covered with bristly feathers on 

 the upper surface; underneath they are rough; claws, yellowish 

 brown, dusky or black at the tips, strong, and not much 

 curved. 



The female resembles the male, but is larger. Length, ten 

 to eleven inches; the wings expand to the width of one foot 

 ten inches or over. 



In the young bird the head is rufous grey, clouded with 

 white; the 'large round spots on the back, and the bars on 

 the tail become gradually more marked than in the old 

 birds, and the streaks on the breast appear. In age the 

 birds become lighter-coloured. 



