390 



BARN OWL. 



rior margin. The aperture of the ear, properly so called, is situated 

 directly behind the space between the eye and the opening of the 

 mouth, and is 4^ twelfths long, 4^^ twelfths broad. There is an ante- 

 rior operculum, 1 inch 1 twelfth long, 7^ twelfths high, with its ante- 

 rior margin straight. The surface of the conch is sparsely covered 

 with long, very slender feathers, of which the basal half is reduced to 



a hair-like shaft. The posterior margin of the conch is furnished with 

 several series of linear curved feathers, of which the tube is propor- 

 tionally very large ; but the operculum is edged with feathers reduced 

 merely to the tube, having only a very slight shaft, scarcely 1 twelfth 

 in length, flattened and rounded, without any filaments ; besides which, 

 however, on its anterior surface, there are several series of regularly 

 constructed linear feathers, about 35 in number. 



The oesophagus is 6 inches long, very wide, its diameter uniform, 

 and about 1 inch 3 twelfths ; its walls very thin. The proventricular 

 glands form a belt 9 twelfths in breadth. The lobes of the liver are 

 nearly equal, and rather small, being li inch in length ; the gall-blad- 

 der oblong. The stomach and intestine are covered with fat, of which 

 there is also a large deposit under the skin of the abdomen. The sto- 

 mach is very large, roundish, a little compressed, 2^ inches long, 2 



