Eared Owl. RAPTORES. OTUS. 91 



feathers black. Circle of small feathers behind the au- 

 ditory conch, mottled with yellowish-orange, black, and 

 white, except opposite to the orifice of the ear, where it 

 is wholly black. Forehead furnished on each side with 

 four or five feathers a little longer than the rest, which 

 it can erect or depress at pleasure. Head, back, and 

 wing-coverts liver-brown, deeply edged with pale buff- 

 orange. Greater quills bright ochreous yellow, the two 

 first with two dusky bars on the outer web, the next two 

 with three, and the rest yv'ixhjbur ; all of them having 

 one irregular bar on the inner web ; and the tips fading 

 into ash-grey. Second quill- feather the longest ; the first 

 shorter than the third. First quill notched, near the 

 tip, on the inner-web ; with the outer web serrated, and 

 the barbs recurved. Wings, when closed, reaching 

 about an inch beyond the tail. Breast and fore part of 

 the neck buff-orange, streaked with brownish-black or 

 liver-brown down the centres of the feathers, with the 

 edges ochreous-yellow. Belly and abdomen yellowish- 

 wliite (in some pale yellowish-brown), with dark brown 

 shafts to the feathers. Tarsi and toes pale ochreous- 

 yellow, without spots or streaks ; the feathers on the 

 toes assuming a hairy appearance. Claws blackish-grey, 

 long, moderately incurved, and very sharp. The mid- 

 dle claw grooved beneath, with a sharp inner edge ; the 

 rest having the under surface rounded. 

 This description varies but little from that of Pennant, 

 who first gave an accurate description of this bird, and 

 added it to the British Fauna. ]\Iy measurement is, 

 however, greater than that which he assigns to it ; but 

 it proved to be the general standard of a great many 

 specimens that came under my hand. 



