THE SCREECH-OWL. 163 



to their wheeling one, and endeavouring to meet them as 

 they come .round. 



THE FEATHERY FOOTED LITTLE OWL (Stri 



Occurs in the south of England. It is rather larger than 

 the former; brown with white spots, paler, and the spots 

 larger on the under part; tarsi feathered; found in the 

 woods.* 



SCREECH-OWL, TAWNY OWL, OR BROWN OWL (StriX Stridula). 



This is one of the most sage-looking of the owls, an aspect 

 it owes partly to the much-produced feathers round the face, 

 partly to the bluish-black irides, which make the eyes seem 

 very large, and partly to the subdued tone of colour in its 

 plumage. It is a large, and rather a powerful bird. The 

 female sometimes measures one foot three, by two feet eight, 

 and weighs nearly a pound; the male is much smaller and 

 lighter. The prevailing colours are tawny brown above, and 

 tawny orange below, but minutely, and when closely in- 

 spected, beautifully mottled with brown, and spotted with 

 white. The feathers round the eyes, which form a complete 

 mask to the chin, and meet over the beak (which is straw 

 colour) at a very acute angle, are white, finely radiated with 

 brown and grey, and having narrow irregular wings of brown 

 on their margins. The tarsi are short and strong, and they 

 and the toes and claws are brownish orange. The tint of 

 the male bird inclines more to yellow, that of the female 

 more to red. 



The tawny owl is a bird of retirement, frequenting the 



* This species (Noctua Tengmalmi, Selby) has been killed near Mor- 

 peth in Northumberland, and other instances have elsewhere occurred of 

 a like nature. In Europe it is widely distributed, being found in Swe- 

 den, Norway, Russia, and parts of Germany, where thick and extensive 

 pine woods afford it a congenial abode. M. 



M2 



