268 BURROWING OWL. 



bill long with strong terminal bristles. There is a ruff of shorter, downy, 

 oblong feathers extending on each side from the forehead to the chin. 

 Wings of moderate length, broad, concave ; primaries broad, the first 

 with the filaments of its outer web bare and enlarged at the end, but 

 scarcely recurved ; the first and second cut out on the inner web near 

 the end, the second and third slightly so on the outer web ; the first 

 four and a half twelfths shorter than the second, which is longest, but 

 scarcely exceeds the third. Tail short, arched, narrow, slightly round- 

 ed, of twelve broadly rounded feathers. 



Bill greyish-yellow, darker towards the base. Iris yellow. Feet 

 dusky grey, claws black. The general colour of the upper parts is 

 light yellowish-brown, having a bleached appearance, and spotted with 

 white ; the quills with triangular reddish-white spots from the margins 

 of both webs, there being five on each web of the first ; the tail simi- 

 larly barred, there being on the middle feathers four double spots, 

 and the tips of all white. The face is greyish-white, the bristle tips of 

 the stifi' feathers at the base of the bill blackish ; the throat and ruif 

 white, succeeded by a mottled brown band, beneath which is a patch of 

 white ; the rest of the lower parts are yellowish-white, with broad bars 

 of light reddish-brown, which are closer on the sides of the breast ; the 

 abdomen, lower tail-coverts, and legs without spots. 



Length to end of tail 10 inches, extent of wings 24 ; bill along the 

 ridge H ; wing from flexure 7i2 ; tail S/j ; tarsus lx| ; hind toe i^^, 

 its claw I'j ; second toe i%, its claw /^ ; third toe j|, its claw 1*3 ; fourth 

 toe I'j, its claw j|. 



In this individual the colours are obviously faded, and the feathers 

 are worn at the tips, shewuig that it was approaching the period of 

 moulting. 



In another, the upper parts are of a much deeper tint of a dull red- 

 dish-brown, approaching to burnt umber, and the spots, which are smal- 

 ler, are brownish- white, those toward ^the end of the tail tinged with 

 reddish earth. The tarsi are much more denuded, and the toes are en- 

 tirely so, with the scales and scutella more convex and crusted with 

 earth: 



But in a third specimen, larger than either, and probably a female, 

 the plumage is perfect, being evidently quite new, and the tarsi covered 

 with fine soft downy feathers, the toes alone having long bristles or 

 shafts on the upper parts. The claws taper to a fine point and the scales 

 and scutella are not so thickened. This bird is therefore probably a 



