ALUCO OWL. 255 



a constant supply of fresh meat. With respect to 

 the general manners of the Wood Owl, Mr. Pen- 

 nant observes that by night these birds are very 

 clamorous; and that when they hoot, their throats 

 are greatly inflated: in the dusk they approach 

 our dwellings, and will frequently enter pigeon- 

 houses, and make great havock in them. They 

 destroy numbers of little leverets, as appears by 

 the legs frequently found in their holes : they also 

 kill abundance of moles, and skin them with as 

 much dexterity as a cook does a rabbet.'* 



ALUCO OWL. 



Strix Aluco. S. dnereo-ferruginea nigro alboque maculata, 



suhtus alhida nigro varia, oculis fuscis, 

 Cinereo-ferruginous Owl, with black and white spots, beneath 



whitish with black variegations, and brown eyes. 

 Strix Aluco. S. capite Icevi, corpore ferrugmeo, iridihus atris, 



remigibus primorihm serratis. Lin,Syst, Nat. 

 Strix cinerea ? liaii, syn. 

 l.a Hulotte. Buff. ois. PL Enl. 441. 

 Strix Aluco. Lath, ind. arn. Aluco Owl. Lath. syn. 

 Brown Owl ? Penn. Brit. Zoul. 



This, says BufFon, may be termed the Black 

 Owl, and is larger than the rest of the common 

 European Owls, measuring near fifteen inches from 

 the tip of the bill to the claws; the head is large 

 and round j the face sunk as it were in the plumage ^ 

 the eyes, which are of a blackish or deep brown 

 colour, are buried in greyisli ragged feathers, and 



