MOTTLED OWL 



19 



are dark brown, streaked and variegated with black, pale brown, 

 and ash; wings lighter, the greater coverts and primaries spotted 

 with white; tail short, even, and mottled with black, pale brown, 

 and whitish, on a dark brown ground ; its lower side grey ; horns 

 (as they are usually called) very prominent, each composed of ten 

 feathers, increasing in length from the front backwards, and liglit- 

 est on the inside ; face whitish, marked with small touches of dusky, 

 and bounded on each side with a circlet of black; breast and belly 

 white, beautifully variegated with ragged streaks of black, and small 

 transverse touches of brown ; legs feathered nearly to the claws, with 

 a kind of hairy down, of a pale brown color ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts white, the latter slightly marked with brown ; iris of the eye 

 a brilliant golden yellow ; bill and claws bluish horn color. 



This was a female. The male is considerably less in size; 

 the general colors darker; and the white on the wing-coverts not 

 so observable. 



Hollow trees, either in the woods or orchard, or close ever- 

 greens in retired situations, are the usual roosting places of this and 

 most of our other species. These retreats, however, are frequently 

 discovered by the Nuthatch, Titmouse, or Blue Jay, who instantly 

 raise the alarm ; a promiscuous group of feathered neighbours soon 

 collect round the spot, like crowds in the streets of a large city 

 when a thief or murderer is detected; and by their insults and vo- 

 ciferation oblige the recluse to seek for another lodging elsewhere. 

 This may account for the circumstance of sometimes finding them 

 abroad during the day, on fences and other exposed situations. 



