ATHENE CAPENSIS. 



quill with dusky white, and those of the remaining quill-feathers variegated 

 with a few narrow white stripes upon their outer edges ; inner surface of 

 shoulders pale cream-yellow, their outer edges white. Chin and under sur- 

 face of neck pale brownish-red, here and there indistinctly barred with pale 

 cream-yellow ; breast barred pale yellowish-brovvn, brownish red and white, 

 the bars of the latter colour most distinct towards the base of the neck, where 

 one occurs towards the point of each feather. Belly white with large brown 

 blotches, one blotch near the tip of each feather ; vent, and under tail coverts 

 pale cream-yellow, legs white, externally tinted with light yellowish brown, 

 and faintly barred with dull brown ; bristles of toes yellowish white. Cere 

 livid green ; bill greenish-yellow ; eyes orange-yellow ; claws towards base 

 yellowish-brown, towards points liver-brown. 



Form. — Typical. Bill small, the upper mandible much curved and strongly 

 hooked at the point ; cere covered with rigid wiry feathers and strong bristles. 

 Wings rounded, and when folded reach rather beyond the first third of the 

 tail, the fourth quill feather the longest, the third and fifth nearly equal, and 

 rather shorter, the second considerably shorter, and the first about an inch 

 and three quarters shorter than the longest. Tail slightly rounded at the 

 point. Tarsi feathered to the toes, the latter thinly covered with strong rigid 

 bristles; claws long, slender, and slightly curved. 



DIMENSIONS. 



laches. Lines. 

 Length from the point of the bill to 



the tip of the tail 9 6 



of the bill from the gape Hi 



of the tail 3 9 



of the wings when folded ... 5 



The bird of which the foregoing is a description was shot in the depths of one of the forests 

 of the eastern district of the Cape Colony. It is the second specimen of the species we have 

 seen ; the first was also killed in a forest of the same district, in 1824, and differed in none of 

 its essential characteristics from the one here described. 



Length of the tarsus .... 

 of the middle toe. 

 of tiie outer toe . 

 of the inner toe . 

 of the hinder toe . 



