EAGLE OWL. Ill 



young deer, or a lamb ; also hares and rabbits, rats, moles, 

 mice, etc. Among ground birds the largest are not too 

 powerful for it; cocks of the wood, and other grouse, pheasants, 

 partridges, crows, rooks, etc. become its prey ; snakes, lizards, 

 and frogs, and even insects are not overlooked. The en- 

 tire length of the Eagle Owl is twenty-four or twenty-five 

 inches ; the expanse from wing to wing sixty-eight to seventy 

 inches. 



The tail is square, and the feathers measure ten inches in 

 length ; the wings, when closed, cover about three-fourths of 

 its length. The beak is strong, bent into nearly a semi- 

 circle, measures two inches from the forehead to the tip in 

 diameter, and two inches and three-quarters in the arc ; the 

 colour is dusky-horn. 



In the fine large eyes may plainly be seen the contraction 

 and expansion of the pupil with every effect of light : the 

 orifice or pupil is not so large in proportion as in some other 

 Owls ; the iris is a fine rich orange. The tarsi are three 

 inches long, the middle toe two inches and a half, the claw 

 one inch and a half; the hinder toe one inch, and its claw 

 two inches and a half. The tarsi and upper parts of the toes 

 are covered with close feathering, the soles of the feet are 

 rough and warty, and of a sooty colour. The feathering 

 consists of a mixture of yellow, brown, rufous, dusky and 

 black, disposed in markings almost impossible to describe. 

 The strong bristling feathers round the eyes are pale ash, 

 intermixed with brown, yellow, and black ; the tufts over the 

 eyes are composed of black feathers, edged and marked with 

 yellowish- brown, the longest measure three and a half inches. 

 The entire upper plumage is dark brown and rufous yellow : 

 the under plumage is in the ground colour ochre and rufous 

 yellow, the feathers crossed with dark waving lines, and mark- 

 ed down the centre of each with a stripe of dusky, broadest 



VOL. I. I 



