BARRED OWL. 



387 



is a median broad prominent ridge, and on the palate are two longitu- 

 dinal ridges ; in other respects the interior of the mouth is as in the 

 Virginian Owl ; its breadth 1;^ inch. The tongue is 10 twelfths long, 

 deeply sagittate and papillate at the base, covered above with minute 

 papillae, rounded and emarginate at the point. 



The nostrils are elliptical, 2| twelfths long, 1^ twelfth broad. The 

 conch of the ear is elliptical, 

 oblique, 1 inch 2 twelfths 

 long, 7^ twelfths wide, with 

 a large anterior operculum, 

 which is 1 inch ^ twelfth 



long at the base, 1 inch 8 

 twelfths high, of a somewhat 

 square form, but rounded on 

 the edge, and somewhat si- 

 milar to that of the Ameri- 

 can Barn Owl, but larger, the latter being truncate or straight on the 

 edge. The heart is small, 1 inch 1^ twelfth long, 8 twelfths broad. 

 The lobes of the liver are nearly equal, the left 1 inch 6^ twelfths long, 

 the right 1^ inch long. 



The oesophagus is 6^ inches long ; its width at the commencement 

 lA inch, about the middle 9 twelfths, and then nearly uniform. The 

 stomach is very large, roundish, its walls very thin, the muscular coat 

 composed of a single series of fasciculi ; the inner surface slightly ru- 

 gous. It contains a large shrew. The proventricular belt is 9 twelfths 

 long. The aperture of the pylorus is only ^ twelfth, with a semicircu- 

 lar flap. The duodenal curve is 3^ inches long. The intestine is 2 

 feet 1 inch long, its width varying from 4 twelfths to 2 twelfths. The 

 cceca, which come off at the distance of 2^ inches, are 3 inches long, 

 their greatest width 5 twelfths. The cloaca is globular, and 1^ inch 

 in diameter. 



The trachea is 4 inches 9 twelfths long, its breadth at the top 4| 

 twelfths ; it immediately contracts to 3J twelfths, and at the lower 

 part is 3^ twelfths, and much flattened. The rings, 88 in number, are 

 pretty firm ; and there are four additional half rings. The bronchi 

 are short and wide ; one with 12, the other with 15 extremely slender 

 cartilaginous half rings. 



