VIRGINIAN HORNED OWL. 217 



more, some less: the feathers between the back 

 and wings are orange-coloured tipped with white: 

 the fore part of the neck and breast are bright 

 brown inclining to orange, which grows fainter on 

 the sides: this brown part is spotted with pretty 

 large dark spots, and intermixed betvveen the spots 

 with the same dusky colour : the middle of the 

 breast, belly, thighs, and under side of the tail are 

 white, or faint ash-colour, barred transversly with 

 dusky lines pretty regularly: the inside of the 

 wings coloured and variegated in the same man- 

 ner: the legs and toes, almost to the ends, are 

 covered with light ash-coloured feathers : the ends 

 of the toes, and claws, of a dark horn-colour/* 



Like the Great European Horned Owl, this 

 species varies occasionally in the cast of its colours, 

 which are sometimes darker, and with fewer of the 

 orange-ferruginous variegations in its plumage: 

 the under parts are also of a clearer white, and 

 more closely and distinctly barred with the trans- 

 verse blackish lines in some specimens than in 

 others. This bird is found in North America as 

 high as Hudson's Bay, frequenting woody districts, 

 and uttering, according to Mr. Pennant, " a most 

 hideous noise in the woods, not unlike the hollowing 

 of a Man^ so that passengers, beguiled by it, often 

 lose their way." 



