LONG-BARED OWL. 575 
with a tough soft membrane above, and having internally a ridge curved 
backwards from the inner edge. 
Head very large, flattened anteriorly ; neck short ; body very slen- 
der, but seeming large on account of the great mass of plumage. Feet 
of moderate length, and stout ; tarsi feathered, short ; toes also short, 
and feathered; the third and fourth connected at the base by a short 
web; the first shortest, and admitting of much lateral motion, the third 
longest, the second and fourth nearly equal. On all the toes are two 
terminal seutella. Claws long, curved in the fourth of a circle, taper- 
ing, extremely acute, rounded above, very narrow beneath, the first 
and second rounded, the rest flat; that of the fourth toe smallest, of 
the first slightly larger, those of the other toes much larger and nearly 
equal. 
Plumage extremely soft and downy. The facial disks complete, and 
composed of eircular series of weak, slender, slightly recurved feathers, 
having remote barbs; surrounding which is a ruff formed of several 
rows of oblong incurved feathers, having-the barbs close. The feathers 
of the forehead are apparent between the ruffs, although that part is 
very narrow; the bill is partially concealed by the plumage; the 
feathers are oblong or ovate, and rounded, extremely soft, and blended, 
those on the tarsi and toes, small, and somewhat silky. Wings long 
and broad ; primaries very broad, rounded, the outer a little incurved 
towards the end, the first sinuate on the inner web near the end, the 
second very slightly so; the second longest, the third a little shorter, 
the fourth a little longer than the first ; the outer in its whole length, the 
second towards the end, and the first alular feather, with the barbs dis- 
united and recurved at the ends. ‘Tail rather short, slightly convex, 
a little rounded, of twelve broad rounded feathers, having feeble shafts. 
Bill brownish-black, cere flesh-coloured ; iris orange ; claws bluish- 
grey, dusky towards the end. The colouring of the plumage is very 
intricate, but may be deseribed as buff, mottled and spotted with brown 
and greyish-white. The disks are whitish anteriorly, with the tips 
black, posteriorly reddish-white ; the ruff mottled with red and black ; 
the upper part of the head, minutely mottled with whitish, brownish- 
black, and light red; the tufts light reddish toward the base, brown- 
ish-black in the central part toward the end, the inner edge white, dot- 
ted with dark-brown. The upper parts are buff, variegated with brown 
and. whitish-grey, minutely mottled or undulatingly barred. The first 
