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THE FULIGINOUS OWL. 



GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Bill crooked; without cere. 



Nostrils covered with briftly feathers. 



Head large : both ears and eyes very large. 



Tongue bifid. 



Latham, 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER, &c, 



Dufky-cinereous Owl, freckled with black ; clouded beneath ; with the 

 feathers round the eyes marked with numerous concentric circles. 



The Cinereous Owl- Lath. Syiiops. i. p. 134. 

 The Sooty Owl- rena, ArHic. Zoology. 1. p. 232. 



'' I ^HERE prevails in moft of the birds of this genus a peculiar foftnefs 

 -*- and fobriety of color ; but of all the fpecies yet known the prefent is 

 of the deepeft cafl: ; the general color of the whole bird being of a brown- 

 ifh afh-color, very thickly fprinkled with fpecks of blackifh brown ; fo that 

 the bird, when viewed at fome diftance, appears of a fmoky tinge ; but when 

 clofely examined, the variegations are by no means deftitute of beauty ; each 

 individual feather being elegantly marked and fprinkled with blackifh and afh- 

 color. The wings are barred or crofTed with afh-color and brown, and the 

 thighs elegantly barred with the fame colors. It is a native of the colder 



parts of North America. 



VIVERRA 



