BARRED OWL. 



extraordinary, amounting sometimes to nearly eight inches in the 

 length. Both scream during day like a Hawk. 



The male Barred Owl measures sixteen inches and a half in 

 length, and thirty-eight inches in extent ; upper parts a pale brown, 

 marked with transverse spots of white ; wings barred with alternate 

 bands of pale brown and darker; head smooth, very large, mot- 

 tled with transverse touches of dark brown, pale brown and white; 

 eyes large, deep blue, the pupil not perceivable; face, or radiated 

 circle of the eyes, grey, surrounded by an outline of brown and 

 white dots; bill yellow, tinged with green; breast barred trans- 

 versely with rows of brown and white; belly streaked longitudi- 

 nally with long stripes of brown on a yellowish ground; vent 

 plain yellowish white; thighs and feathered legs the same, slight- 

 ly pointed with brown; toes nearly covered with plumage; claws 

 dark horn color, very sharp; tail rounded, and remarkably con- 

 cave below, barred with six broad bars of brown, and as many 

 narrow ones of white ; the back and shoulders have a cast of ches- 

 nut; at each internal angle of the eye is a broad spot of black; the 

 plumage of the radiated circle round the eye ends in long black 

 hairs ; and the bill is encompassed by others of a longer and more 

 bristly kind. These probably serve to guard the eye when any 

 danger approaches it in sweeping hastily through the woods; and 

 those usually found on Flycatchers may have the same intention to 

 fulfil; for on the slightest touch of the point of any of these hairs, 

 the nictitant membrane was instantly thrown over the eye. 



The female is twenty-two inches long, and four feet in extent; 

 the chief difference of color consists in her wings being broadly 

 spotted with white ; the shoulder being a plain chocolate brown; the 

 tail extends considerably beyond the tips of the wings ; the bill is 

 much larger, and of a more golden yellow; iris of the eye the same 

 as that of the male. 



The different character of the feathers of this, and I believe 

 of most Owls is really surprising. Those that surround the bill 



