260 BUBO VIRGINIAN US. 



GENUS III. BUBO. THE HORNED OWLS. 



GEN. CH. The sternum is not very short and not strongly arched, but with the coracoids set on at an anyle. Furcula, 

 quite well developed. Tail, long. There are prominent ear tufts. 



Although members of this genus have the plumage long and full yet it is not as lax and downy as in the preccdini; 

 group. The eyes are rather large and are usually yellow in color. The sterno-trachealis is not stout, and there is a slen- 

 der bronchialis, but no other laryngeal muscles. The oesophagus is nearly straight, but is a little wider in the middle, 

 and opens into a small proventriculus with simple glands arranged in a narrow, zonular band. The stomach i- quite 

 large, globular in form, with moderately thin walls. The coeca are quite long with the blind ends dilated. The fold ,f the 

 duodenum is long, inclosing a small pancreas. Both lobes of the liver are nearly equal in size. There is but one species 

 within our limits. 



BUBO VIRGINIANUS. 

 Great Horned Owl. 



Bubo Viryinianus GM., Syst, Nat., I: 1788, 287. 



DESCRIPTION. 



SP. CH. Form, robust. Size, very large. Sternum, stout. Tongue, rather thick and fleshy, homy at the tip which 

 is rounded and slightly bifid. The bill and claws are strong and well curved. The ear tufts are always present and u<u- 

 ally quite prominent. 



COLOR. Adult. Above, including wings and tail, dark-brown, with the feathers mottled, spotted, and barred with 

 white and rufous, the bars being more distinct on the wings and tail. The base of the feathers are more or less rufous. 

 There is a patch of white on the lower neck and upper breast but the remainder of the feathers, including under wing and 

 tail coverts, is barred, mottled, and spotted, with black, white, and yellowish-rufous. The tibia and tarsus are rufous bar- 

 red with dusky. The face is rufous, black, and white, mixed, hut inclined to white on the feathers in advance of the eye. 

 Ear tufts, dark-brown, edged on the inner margin with rufous and white. 



Young. Similar- to the adult but show much more rufous below and on the middle of the back, while the same color 

 predominates on the wings and tail. 



Nestlings. Are at first covered with a yellow down which, in time, becomes barred with dusky-brown. Chin and 

 throat, white, also the ring entirely surrounding the bill, but the bristles at its base are black, terminally. The facial disk 

 is edged with black. The ear tufts are at first wanting but soon appear as the birds gradually assume the second plumage. 

 Iris, yellow, bill and claws, dark-brown, in all stages. Sexes, similar in color. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



It is extremely difficult to give an idea of the variable plumage of this species. Usually specimens from the far North 

 are very light, often being creamy or even nearly white throughout; those from the Middle Region show a preponderance 

 of rufous, while Owls from the South are decidedly darker. This is, prehaps, the rule, but there are many exceptions to it; 

 for example, of two skins before me. one from Labrador and one from Florida, the northern skin is the darker. Keeping 

 in mind, then, the fact, that either of the three colors, white, black, or rufous, may predominate nearly to the exclusion of 

 the other two, or be mixed in all proportions, it will not be difficult to recognize this species by the form al<me and especial- 

 ly by the prominent ear tufts combined with the large size. Distributed, as a constant resident, throughout the entire ex- 

 tent of North America. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of male specimens. Length, 21 '00; stretch , 40 00; wing, 14-00; tail, 8-00; bill, 1'60; tarsus, 

 1.-25. Longest specimen, 23'00; greatest extent of wing, 45'00; longest wing, 15'00; tail, 9-00; bill, 1-60; tarsus, 1'30. 

 Shortest specimen, 18-00; smallest extent of wing, 35-00; shortest wing, 13-00; tail, 7'00; bill; 1'40; tarsus, 1'20. 



Average measurements of female specimens. Length, 23'00; stretch, 51-00; wing, 15-60; tail,9'00; bill, 1'70; tarsus, 

 1-50. Longest specimen, 24-00; greatest extent of wing, 55'00; longest wing, 16-30: tail, 9'60; bill, 1-80; tarsus, 1-60. 

 Shortest specimen, 22'00; smallest extent of wing, 53'00; shortest wing, IS'OO; tail, 8'70; bill, 1'50; tarsus, 1'40. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed in natural cavities of trees or on the branches. They are either remodeled on the old nests of other birds 

 or composed of sticks and twigs, lined with a scanty supply of leaves, etc. 



E<iys, three or four in number, quite spherical in form, white in color, with the surface very smooth. Dimensions from 

 1-80x2-00 to 2-00x2-30. 



