TAWNY OWL. 153 



white feathers ; claws horn-white at the base, darker towards 

 the tip. The whole length about fifteen inches. The pro- 

 minent pink edges of the eyelids give this Owl a singular 

 appearance. 



The female is larger, but when perfectly adult, resembles 

 the male in colour. Younger birds are often more ferrugi- 

 nous. The plumage first assumed by the nestlings is drab 

 or inclining to grey. British examples seem to be certainly 

 more rufous than those which are commonly obtained on the 

 Continent, in some parts of which grey birds decidedly pre- 

 dominate in number, if they do not occur exclusively. It 

 may be observed that it is common to many species of Owls 

 to have both a rufous and a grey or brown plumage, and it 

 is not always possible to account for the discrepancy through 

 sex or age. 



Messrs. Buckley and Elwes mention a " perfectly black 

 Owl " in the collection of Mr. Kobson at Ortakeuey, near 

 Constantinople, which they consider to have been a melanite 

 variety of this species. Mr. Gurney is of opinion that 

 Algerian examples exceed in size those from Europe and 

 Western Asia. 



The vignette represents the sternum of this species, which 

 when compared with that of the Falcon previously figured, 

 shews a great deficiency in strength. The keel has but 

 little depth, the sides are narrow, while the furcula is espe- 

 cially slender and weak. In some Owls the median portion 

 of the furcula is not ossified, and the lateral portions are 

 only connected by a ligament. 



VOL. i. 



