216 VIRGINIAN HORNED OWL. 



teristic a disposition of colours as to leave no doubt 



of its being truly distinct. It is a native of many 



parts of North America, and seems to have been 



first figured and accurately described by Edwards, 



from a living specimen then recently brought from 



Virginia. " It approaches, says Edwards, near in 



magnitude to the Greatest Horn or Eagle-Owl: 



the bigness of the head in this seems not at all 



inferior to that of a Cat: the wing, when closed, 



measures from the top to the ends of the quills 



full fifteen inches: the bill is black, the upper 



mandible hooked, and overhanging the nether, 



as in Eagles and Hawks, having no angle in them, 



but plain on its edges: it is covered with a skin 



in which are placed the nostrils, and that skin hid 



with a bristly kind of grey feathers that grow round 



the basis of the bill: the eyes are large, having 



circles round them, pretty broad, of a bright, 



shining gold-colour: the space round the eyes, 



which one may call the face, is of a light brown, 



confusedly mixed with orange-colour, gradually 



becoming dusky where it borders on the eyes: 



over the eyes it hath white strokes: the feathers 



that compose the horns begin just above the bill, 



where they are intermixed with a little white, but 



as they extend onwards beyond the head, they 



become of a red- brown, clouded with dusky, and 



tipped with black: the top of the head, neck, 



back, wings, and upper side of the tail are barred 



across with dusky bars of reddish: the greater 



wing-feathers and the tail are barred across with 



dusky bars of half an inch breadth, some a little 



