STRIGIDiE. 73 



margined or bounded posteriorly with blackish-brown : the interior of the circle, forming the 

 immediate border of the orbit, is blackish. The belt of velvety feathers on the posterior border 

 of the concha, and which meets with its fellow on the throat, is dark umber-brown, finely 

 mottled with white. The egrets are liver-brown, the interior margins of the feathers mottled 

 with white. On the dorsal aspect the ground colour is dark liver-brown ; which on the 

 forehead and crown is finely speckled with white ; on the neck the dark-brown occupies the 

 centre of each feather, and the margins are pale yellowish-brown, with indented white spots, 

 that are finely dotted with dark-brown. The back, scapularies, tertiaries, and greater part 

 of the lesser wing coverts, have the brown ground crossed by bars of white, which again 

 include indented bars of brown, the resulting general effect being a fine mottling. A band 

 passes along the upper margin of the wing, on which there are no white spots ; but the dark- 

 brown is sparingly dotted with yellowish-brown. The quill feathers are liver-brown, crossed 

 by seven bands of yellowish-brown, more or less mottled with white. The tail is crossed by 

 about eight pale yellowish-brown or whitish bars, finely mixed with dark-brown, and alternating 

 with as many liver-brown bars. 



Under surface. — On the neck and breast the feathers are liver-brown in their centres and 

 white or yellowish-brown on their margins, producing an assemblage of large spots. On the 

 belly they are white, crossed by narrow distinct liver-brown bars. The plumage of the 

 whole ventral aspect, as well as of the dorsal, is yellowish-brown at the base, which partially 

 shows. The linings of the wings are white, tinged with yellowish-brown and marked with 

 some dark-brown blotches. The insides of the primaries are clove-brown, with large buff- 

 coloured bases and blotches opposite to the pale bars on the exterior surfaces. The under 

 surface of the tail is buff-coloured towards the base and greyish towards the point, and is 

 crossed by eight or nine narrow brown bars. The long outer thigh feathers are deep yellowish- 

 brown, with a few liver-brown bars on their tips. The legs and feet are unspotted yellowish- 

 brown. 



Form, &c. — The bill, having a flat elliptical curvature, is covered with cere on the ridge 

 about half its length. Nostrils oval, oblique. Facial circle moderately large. Concha extending 

 from above the posterior angle of the orbit to behind the limb of the lower jaw, being about an 

 inch and a quarter long, with a moderately broad operculum of corresponding length. Egrets 

 an inch and a half long, very conspicuous, composed of six or more feathers. Folded wings 

 very little shorter than the tail. The second quill feather is the longest, the third is scarcely 

 shorter ; the first rather exceeds the fourth, and both are an inch shorter than the second ; 

 the remaining ones diminish each in succession from three-quarters to half an inch. The 

 inner web of the first primary is strongly sinuated near the point, and the outer web of the 

 second is more obliquely narrowed higher up. The outer web of the first and that of the 

 second below the sinuation have the points of the barbs strongly reverted : this is not the case 

 with the third, as it is in Strix Virginiana. Tail very slightly rounded, the outer feathers being 

 only a quarter of an inch shorter than the central ones. Tarsi closely covered with mode- 

 rately long feathers ; and the upper surface of the toes clothed by shorter feathers, which do 



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