STRIGIDiE. 85 



broadly oval. Facial circle incomplete above the eye. Auditory opening only three-quarters 

 of an inch long, oval, without an operculum. Scapularies rather long. Tertiaries long, 

 falling only about an inch short of the tip of the wing. The wings, when folded, fall four inches 

 short of the end of the tail. The wing feathers have broad webs. The third quill feather is 

 the longest ; the second and fourth are scarcely perceptibly shorter; the fifth is three-quarters 

 of an inch, and the first an inch and a quarter shorter ; the sixth and following ones diminish 

 in length from three-quarters to half an inch in succession. The inner webs of the first and 

 second are strongly sinuated, and that of the third less so ; the outer webs of the second, third, 

 and fourth, are distinctly undulated or obliquely sinuated. The margins of the outer one, and 

 that of the second and third below their sinuations, have the points of the barbs strongly reverted. 

 The feathers of the tail have broad webs. The tail is slightly rounded, the exterior feathers 

 being less than three-quarters of an inch shorter than the middle ones. Feet clothed to the 

 nails, at the root of which two large scales become visible when the feathers are turned aside. 

 Middle and fore claws of the same length, both grooved beneath, and the former having an 

 acute inner edge. Claws reaching within less than two inches of the end of the tail. The 

 hind and outer one are smaller, and are slightly grooved at the base beneath. The middle 

 and outer toe are connected at the base by a very short, thick web. 



Length from the tip of the bill to the end of 

 the tail ..... 



„ of the bill, measured along its ridge 



„ „ from the angle of the 



mouth to the tip ... . 



„ of the cere on its ridge . . 9 



Another specimen, killed by Mr. Drummond on the Rocky Mountains, mea- 

 sures two inches less in length, and differs generally from the preceding in being 

 of a darker hue above, with finer and less copious white mottling. The yellowish- 

 brown colour of the base of the plumage is also less bright, and the facial circle 

 is of a more sombre hue. Its bill, also, is more compressed. 





Dimensions. 









Inches. 



Lines. 







Inches. 



Lines. 







Length 



of the tail 



. 11 



6 



26 







•>•> 



of the longest quill feather 



14 







2 







ii 



of the tarsus . 



. 2 



3 







55 



of the middle toe 



1 



9 



1 



8 



55 



of the middle nail 



. 1 



3 



