AVES STRIGID/E. 699 



of the lores with stiff, prolonged, black, hair-like shafts obscuring the white 

 color; ear-coverts, forming the posterior part of facial disk, ash-brown, ful- 

 vescent just back of the eye ; the facial disk not well defined, but brokenly 

 separated from the crown by the white eyebrow and a crescentic white patch 

 back of the ear-coverts. 



Fio. 358. 



Sptotyto cunicularia. Bill and nostril, natural size. 



Neck : Back of the neck ash-brown, like the crown, but each feather with 

 a broad subterminal white bar or spot, giving the whole about an evenly 

 mottled appearance ; chin white ; throat white ; the two regions separated 

 by a band of buffy brown feathers. 



Back : Interscapular region ashy brown, mottled white, or ashy white 

 spots and bars on all the feathers ; the bars are concealed and deeper ashy 

 white, or even buff, as compared with the spots ; the lower back, rump and 

 upper tail-coverts similar, but with the buffy barring not concealed. 



Tail : Concolor with the back, with a terminal band of buffy white, and 

 crossed by five or more bands of a similar shade, the interval of ground- 

 color being wider than the buffy bars and shaded toward the edges, 

 touching the buffy white with deeper shades of umber-brown ; the inner 

 webs of all but the central feathers with white greatly preponderating ; 

 from below, the closed tail appears silvery white, with pale ashy brown 

 cross bars. 



Primary wings : Quills clear ash-brown at the tips, deeply notched on 

 the inner webs, with white and broad white notches prevailing on the outer 

 webs; secondaries with white tips, barred on the outer webs with buffy 

 white, immaculate silvery nearly to the exclusion of any brown ; scapulars 

 like the back; the upper wing-coverts spotted regularly with buffy white, 

 more conspicuously on the greater and median series ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries silky, silvery white. 



Lower parts : Breast, chest and fore part of abdominal region barred 

 rather evenly brown and buffy white, the feathers of the breast with the 

 brown shade prevailing, those of the fore part of the abdomen with the 



