SHORT-EARED OWL 



65 



sometimes seen in companies ; twenty-eight of them being once 

 counted in a turnip field in November. 



Length fifteen inches, extent three feet four inches; general 

 color above dark brown, the feathers broadly skirted with pale yel- 

 lowish brown ; bill large, black ; irides rich golden yellow, placed 

 in a bed of deep black, which radiates outwards all around, except 

 towards the bill, where the plumage is whitish; ears bordered with 

 a semicircular line of black and tawny yellow dots; tail rounded, 

 longer than usual with Owls, crossed with five bands of dark brown, 

 and as many of yellow ochre, some of the latter have central spots 

 of dark brown, the whole tipt with white; quills also banded with 

 dark brown and yellow ochre; breast and belly streaked with dark 

 brown on a ground of yellowish; legs, thighs and vent plain dull 

 yellow; tips of the three first quill feathers black; legs clothed to 

 the claws, which are black, curved to about the quarter of a circle, 

 and exceedingly sharp. 



The female I have never seen ; but she is said to be somewhat 

 larger and much darker; and the spots on the breast larger and 

 more numerous. 



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VOL. IV. 



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