*a6 O W L. 



M. de Buffon fuppofes this bird to be the fame with that men- 

 tioned by Kolben * in his hiftory of the Cape ; and adds from Marc- 

 grave, that it is eafily tamed j that it will play with any one 

 like a Monkey ; that it can turn it's head quite round, fo that 

 its bill quite touches the back, and frequently puts itfelf into 

 very droll attitudes, &c. 



ii. 



+■ MOTTLED Mottled Owl, Cat. N. Amer. anim. p. 9. ? 

 ?_■ °- ■ Am. Zool. N° 



N. S. 



Description. 



Lev. Muf. 



HP H E length of this fpecies is eight inches and a half. The 

 bill is brown : irides yellow : the plumage on the upper 

 parts of the body is of a grey colour, mottled with ferruginous 

 and black : the fhaft of each feather is black, with three or four 

 waved bars of the fame on each fide : thefe marks are the fame, 

 but more diftincl, beneath, where the ground colour is paler : 

 the feathers round the face are tipped with black, as are the fea- 

 thers of the breaft alfo : the ears are an inch or more in 

 length : the legs are feathered to the toes : the claws are brown. 

 Inhabits North America. 



* Kolben obferves, that at the Cape of Good Hope there are a great quantity 

 of Owls, of the fame fize with thofe of Europe, which are partly red and partly 

 black, with a mixture of grey, which renders them very beautiful, and that the 

 Europeans there let them run tame about their houfes, to clear them of Rats. 

 See Hiji. Cap. vol. iii. p. 198, 199. 



From the circumftance of their being eafily tamed, as thofe are at Brafil, and 

 being nearly in the fame latitude, he thinks it poffible that they may be, in 

 fact, varieties of the fame fpecies. 



Little 



