ERMINE OWL. 251 



lines: thighs marked with small, oblong, blackish 

 dashes: legs feathered to the toes, which are ra- 

 ther slender: bill and irides yellow. Native of 

 Cayenne. 



ERMINE OWL. 



Strix Erminea. S. alba, alis maculis par vis distantibus nigris, 



cauda brevi. 

 White Owl, with the wings marked by small distant white 



spots, and short tail. 

 Strix Candida. S. capite Icevi, cor pore albo maculis alarum 



distantibus nigris. Lath. ind. om. suppl. 

 La Chouette blanche. Lsvaill. ois. pi. 45. 

 Ermine Owl. Lath, suppl. 1. 



Described and figured by Levaillant, from a 

 preserved specimen which he saw in a collection 

 at Amsterdam. Its size is smaller than that of the 

 Strix Nyctea, and its shape less elegant : the head 

 large, the tail short, and the wings surpassing it in 

 length: colour of the whole bird snow-white, with 

 a very few small black spots near the shoulders, at 

 the tips of the wing-coverts, and at those of the 

 quills: bill black: irides hazel: legs thickly fea- 

 thered to the claws. Native place unknown. This 

 bird is by Monsieur Levaillant considered as dis- 

 tinct from the Strix Nyctea; yet when we consider 

 how very easily the proportions of a bird may be 

 altered by the manner of preparing it, the com- 

 paratively larger size of the head in this specimen, 

 and the greater apparent length of the wings, will 



