HUDSONTAN OWL. 27^ 



longish, dusky spots: the outsides of these spaces, 

 towards the ears, are encompassed with black: 

 without that again is a little white: the bill is 

 covered almost with light-coloured bristly feathers, 

 as in most of the Owl kind: the top of the head is 

 of a very dark brown, spotted finely with little 

 regular round spots of white: round the neck, and 

 down to the middle of the back, is dark brown, 

 the feathers seeming to be tipped with white: the 

 wings are of a brown colour, the quills and covert- 

 feathers being finely spotted on their outer webs 

 with white: the three quills next the body are not 

 spotted, but have whitish tips: the feathers between 

 the back and wing are painted with broad trans- 

 verse bars of brown and white: the inner coverts 

 of the wing are white, with transverse lines of 

 brown: the quills withinside are dark ash-colour, 

 with white spots on both webs: the prime quill is 

 spotless within, and without on its outer web, and 

 hath hardly any of that reflecting back of the 

 points of the outer web, as is observed in Owls : 

 the rump and covert-feathers of the tail are dark 

 brown, transversly barred and mixed with a lighter 

 brown : the tail on the upper side is dark brown, 

 and ash-coloured beneath, composed of twelve 

 feathers, the middlemost longer by two inches than 

 the very outermost : it is barred across by seven 

 or eight transverse narrow bars of light brown: 

 the breast, belly, thighs, and coverts under the 

 tail are white, barred across with narrow brown 

 lines, in a regular manner: the legs and feet are 



