CHAP. XVII. P L A. aa;. 
The Great Horned Owl 
from Athens. 
Le Grand Hibou Cornu 
d "Athenes. 
A T S HIS figure was drawn from the 
living bird, which I was obliged to 
reduce very much below its natural fize, 
in order to bring the figure within the 
compafs of my book. The original is of 
the fecond magnitude, being lefs than 
the Great Eagle-Owl, kept many years 
alive, in London, by Sir Hans Sloane, 
and well known to the curious of his time, 
from A. D. 1730 to 1740. On placing 
a ruler upright on its perch near it, as 
it fat in the pofture here figured, I found 
its height to be above feventeen inches; 
by which the reader may conclude how 
much the bird exceeds the print in 
fize. 
The bill is pretty much hooked, and 
its bafe partly covered with fmall greyifh 
feathers like hair, ftanding forwards: 
the bill and talons are of a dufky or 
blackifh horn-colour : the eyes are (as 
in all the fpecies of Horned Owls I have 
feen) of a fine golden colour, with black 
pupils : the face is flattifh, as in the 
whole genus of Owls, of a whitifh-grey 
colour, terminated all round by lines and 
fpots of dufky or black : the horns, or 
ears, are compofed of feathers only, 
which it can raife, or let fall almoffc 
flat : they are brown on their upper 
tides, and black beneath ; which black- 
nefs falls immediately above the eyes, 
and a dufky line is carried round them ; 
as if nature had thereby defigned to 
2 
T lOifeau fur lequel cette figure a etc 
tiree etoit en vie ; fat ete oblige de le 
reduire fort audejfous de fa grojfeur natu - 
relle, pour P accommoder au format de mon 
livre . U original eft de la feconde grandeur , 
etant plus petit que le Grand Hibou- Aigle y 
garde ft long temps d Londres chez le Che- 
valier Hans Sloane , et bien connu de tons les 
curieux de fon temps , depuis Pannee 1730 
jufqud 1740. En plaqant une regie fur 
la perche ou il fe tenoit . dans P attitude ou il 
eft ici reprefente, je trouvai quil avoit plus 
de 17 pouces de haut ; ainfi le leBeur pourra 
calculer de combien Poifeau mime excede 
Pempreinte en grofjeur . 
Le bee eft conftderablement crochu ; la 
bafe en eft couverte en partie de petites 
plumes grifdtres femblables d du poll dont les 
pointes font tournees en avant : le bee et les 
ongles font dun brun fonce y ou dun noir de 
come . Les yeux font , comme dans toutes 
les efpeces de Hiboux d comes que faye vus y 
dun beau couleur dor, avee des prunelles 
noires : le vifage eft plat , comme Pont tous 
les Hiboux , dun gris blanchdtre , termini 
tout autour par des lignes et taches dun 
brun fort obfeur , ou noires : les comes ou 
oreilles font compofees uniquement de plumes , 
que Poifeau pent elever d fon gre, ou baifjer 
prefque plates : elles font brunes par defits, 
et noires en deftous, noir qui tombe imme- 
diatement fur les yeux , qui font outre cela 
environnes tout au tour dune ligne obfeure. 
