[ 95 J 



ART. XII. — Descriptions of Owls presumed to he new species, in the collection of the 

 Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Bj John Cassin. 



Ephialtes Watsonii, nobis.* 

 Plate XII, %. 1. 



E. capite supra nigro; corpore supra fusco-nigro, cum striis angustis cinereo-albis ; infra pallido-fulvescente 

 plumis omnibus nigro notato ; alis caudaque fusco-nigris cum f'asciis cinereo-albis, tarsis fulvis, rostro 

 cornu-coloris. 



Long, tot. (exuviae) ab apice rostri usque ad finem caudae 9| poll., alje 7, caudae 3j pollices. 



Hab. America meridionali. 



Form. — Robust ; wings rather long, with the fourth quill slightly longest ; tail even 

 and extending beyond the closed wings; legs rather fully feathered to the toes. 



Dimensions. — Total length of skin from tip of bill to end of tail about 9| inches; 

 wing 7 ; tail 3^ inches. 



Colors. — Adult. Summit of the head black, with a few minute pale spots, more 

 numerous on the front and eyebrows ; shorter (front) feathers of the ear tufts black, 

 others black, with their inner webs spotted or mottled with white. Neck above with 

 a fulvous collar. 



Body above, tail and wing coverts mottled and freckled with grayish white on a 

 black ground, many of the feathers having each about three to five very irregular 

 transverse bands of whitish ; on the wing coverts and back some of the pale marks 

 are almost circular, with black centres, others are of irregular form, also enclosing 

 centres of black. 



External webs of primaries black, with subquadrate whitish bars, having black 

 centres, which also assume a more or less well defined square form. Internal webs 

 of primaries with alternate bands of different shades of black. 



Inferior surface of the body pale fulvous, every feather marked longitudinally with 

 blackish and with irregular transverse lines of, and mottled with, black, most 

 numerous and most irregular on the breast. Some feathers on the breast with very 

 pale whitish spots, having somewhat the appearance of being distributed in pairs. 



Tail black, with about seven or eight narrow irregular grayish bands, many of 

 which have central lines of black. Tarsi pale fulvous, mottled with black. 



Bill horn colored at base, whitish at the tip. 



♦Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Vol. iv. p. 183, Dec, 1818. 



