ATHENE WOODFORDI. 



but when a single feather is examined, white is found to be the predominant 

 colour, while the pale reddish exists only as a broad bar at the tip of each 

 feather : behind the tips the feathers are crossed by several narrow umber- 

 brown lines ; sides of abdomen and vent partly white and partly pale 

 buff-orange, the feathers being crossed by several narrow iimber-brown 

 bars. Legs and tarsi sienna-yellow, variegated with short umber-brown 

 bars. Tail dull reddish brown, with seven or eight pale yellowish 

 brown bars, the last bar forming the tip of each feather. Bill deep straw- 

 yellow, greenish at the point. Eyes a deep and bright yellow. Toes dull 

 yellow ; claws wood-brown at base, elsewhere livid umber-brown. 



Form, &c. — Head rather small ; facial disc distinct ; cervical collar mode- 

 rately developed and continuous, its feathers decomposed; the feathers coating 

 the sides of the bill long and wiry. The wings, when folded, reach some dis- 

 tance beyond the commencement of the last third of the tail ; the fourth quill- 

 feather the longest, the third slightly shorter, the second and fifth equal and 

 shorter than the third, the first rather shorter than the second. The tip of 

 the tail slightly rounded. Bill compressed towards tip and strongly hooked ; 

 nostrils large, open, and nearly circular. Tarsi covered with soft downy 

 feathers ; toes coated with small, somewhat granular scales ; claws slender, 

 moderately long, much arched, and pointed. 



DIMENSIONS. 



In. Lin. 



Length of the tarsi 1 9 



outer toe 7 



middle toe 10| 



inner toe 9 J 



hinder toe 3 



In, Lin. 

 Length from the point of the bill to the 



tip ofthe tail 13 (> 



Length of the bill to the anole of the 



month I li 



wngs when folded J) 



tail G 



The markings of the male are nearly the same in form as those of the 

 female, but the colours are rather brighter. 



This owl occurs in various parts of the colony, and is generally discovered about the outskirts 

 of forests. It is by no means a common bird in South Africa, and specimens of it are but rarely 

 procured. It feeds upon small quadrupeds, birds, large insects, &c. 



