MR. J. II. GURNEY ON TIIE NEW ZEALAND OWL. 
. 157 
long bristly hairs on the upper surface, and the outer toe is easily 
reversible half-way, as I observed when the Owl was both dead and 
alive. The eyelid is gray, and the toes and soles of the feet 
are reddish-brown, the latter covered with numerous small spicules 
as in Pandion luiHaetus and Bubo iynuvus. The cars are very low 
in the head, in fact, placed beneath the eyes, and appear, from 
external examination, to be quite symmetrical ; but after the bird 
was skinned, I could see, by looking at the skull from the back, that 
the hind angle of the inferior mandible was lower on one side than 
the other. This, however, may not affect the actual ear, the 
external oriiice of which measures about inch, and is of an 
elongated shape. Mr. F. Beddard, who has examined the skull of 
Sceloylaux, considers that it comes nearer to that of Sfrix in its 
relative proportions than do the skulls of many other genera, 
confirming the position assigned to it in our Museum by my father, 
but he docs not say anything about the ear. 
I could not measure the dead bird exactly, as it had lost its tail ; 
but from the beak to the toes was fourteen inches, and from tip to 
tip of the two wings about twenty-eight, which is not a small 
spread for an Owl. Mr. Gould speaks of its small Accipitriue 
head, but the head is as large in proportion to its body as in 
Si/niium uhtco, and the eye cavity is rather exceptionally large. 
The oil gland (Glandula uropyyialis) is single and pointed, with no 
tuft of feathers at its extremity, as in other Owls. 
The tongue is the size and shape of the annexed drawing, Xo. 1, 
taken the day after the death of the bird ; and, for the sake of 
comparison, Xo. 2, the tongue of the American Eagle Owl {Bubo 
vinjinianus, Gmel.), has been added by Mr. R. Holding, to whose 
handiwork I owe the cuts. 
