HAWK OWL. 
241 
the fourth, which is the longest in the wing ; shanks plaited, long, and 
slender ; middle toe greatly exceeding the two lateral ones in length ; 
claws much hooked, and very sharp ; flight rapid and direct. They 
pounce upon their prey on the wing, and are so bold as to attack much 
larger birds than themselves.* 
HAWK OWL (^Otus hrachyotus^ Fleming.) 
* Strix Brachyotus, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1. p. 55. 11. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 289. sp. 17. — 
Meyer, Tasscbenb. Deut. 1. p. 73. — Otus Brachyotus, Flem. p. 58. — Strix 
Ulula, Lath. Ind. Orn. 1 p, 60. sp. 27. var. B. — Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 294. — Strix 
Brachyura, AhL. Faun, Suec. 1. p. 62. sp. 27. — Hibou Brachyote, Temm. Man. 
d’Orn. 1. p. 99. — Chouette ou Grand Cheveche, Bujf. Ois. 1. p. 372. t. 27. — 
Ih, pi. Enl.438. — Chouette Caspienne, Sonn. Nouv. ed. Buff. Ois. 4. p. 169. — 
Kurzbrige Ohreule, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. 2. p. 909. — Frisch, Vdg. t. 98. — 
Caspian Owl, Lath. Syn. l.p. 140. and 147. — Short-eared Owl, Penn. Zool. 1. 
p. 204. and 206. — Arct. Zool. 2. No. 116. — Lewin’s Br. Birds, 1. 1. 25. — Lath. 
Syn, 1. p. 124. 9. — Ih. Supp. p. 43. — Mont. Orn. Diet. 2. — Wale. Syn. 1. 1. 25. 
Pult. Cat. Doiset. p. 4. — Bewick's Br. Birds, 1. p. 48. and 50. — Low's Faun. 
Oread, p. 42. — Selby, pi. 21. 8vo. pi. 1. p. 54. 
Provincial. — Woodcock Owl. Mouse Hawk. * 
This species weighs eleven ounces ; length near fifteen inches. Bill 
dusky ; irides bright yellow. The feathers immediately surrounding 
the eyes are black ; those that cover and surround the bill white ; the 
wreath round the face beautifully speckled with light ferruginous, black, 
and white, except at each ear, where it is wholly black ; on the top of 
the head, above each eye, is a tuft of feathers, which it can erect at 
pleasure, the foremost of which are black on the outer webs, and white 
on the inner ; the rest of the head, neck, back, and scapulars, dusky, 
bordered more or less with light ferruginous ; breast and belly yellowish 
white, streaked with dusky down the shafts ; the greater quills are light 
ferruginous on the outer webs ; the three first have a single bar of black 
each, and deeply tipped the same ; the others have two bars each, their 
tips brown, inclining to greyish ; the inner webs have one, or part of 
an irregular bar ; the coverts of the primores black ; on the coverts of 
the secondaries are several large spots of white ; the second feather in 
the wing is the longest ; the feathers of the tail are light ferruginous, 
crossed with four dusky bars on the six middle ones, and marked with 
dusky spots on the yellow bars of the two middle feathers ; the bars on 
the outer feathers are not so numerous or so perfect, and the yellow is 
shaded off to almost white on the exterior feathers, which have only 
irregular circles of dusky brown on the inner webs ; the legs are covered 
down to the claws with light yellow feathers. 
The above description is taken from a male killed near Bristol. The 
female is rather less bright in colour, and somewhat superior in size. 
This bird is distinguished from all the other species by the smallness 
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