256 ALUCO OWL. 



the beak is of. a yellowish or greenish white: the 

 upper part of the body is of a deep iron-grey, 

 mottled with black and whitish spots ; the under 

 parts white, with longitudinal and transverse black 

 bars: the tail measures rather more than six inches 

 in length, and is crossed with blackish bars : the 

 wings extend a little beyond its tip, and when 

 expanded measure three feet: the legs are covered 

 to the claws with White feathers speckled with black. 

 The Aluco is an inhabitant of the middle parts of 

 Europe, residing in woods, breeding in hollow 

 trees, and laying four large, round, grey eggs. By 

 night it emerges from its retreats, in order to prey 

 on small birds, field-mice, &c. and in the winter 

 season sometimes approaches houses. 



The descriptions given by Monsieur Daudin in 

 his ornithology, and by Monsieur Virey in Sonnini's 

 edition of Buffon, agree in giving a rufous or fer- 

 ruginous cast to the whole bird, paler on the under 

 parts. This is not observed by Buffon, nor does 

 it appear in the figure engraved in the Planches 

 Enluminees, where the wing-coverts are evidently 

 striped longitudinally with large white spots, nearly 

 as in the Brown Owl of Pennant. Monsieur Virey 

 observes, that in the female and younger birds the 

 abdomen is whitish; and such, perhaps, may be 

 the specimen figured in the Planches Enluminees. 



In attending to the synonyms prefixed to this 

 and the preceding bird, the reader will readily 

 perceive the difficulty of composing short specific 

 characters, sufficiently precise to afford a real test 

 of the species intended. Perhaps, after all, the 



