lOO 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
THE WOOD-OWLS. GENUS SYRNIUM. 
Syrnium, Savign. Descr. de I’Egypte, p. 208 ( 1 Soy). 
Type, S. aluco (L.). 
Although the Wood-Owls have the same curious ear-conch 
as the Horned Owls, they may easily be distingushed from 
the latter by the absence of ear-tufts, and by the cere being 
shorter than the culmen. The bony shell of the car-conch 
is similar in form on either side of the skull, both sides of 
which are symmetrical, whereas in Nyctala (vide t/ifra, p. 103) 
the opposite is the case. 
The Wood-Owls are found all over the New World from 
north to south, and also over the greater part of the Old 
World, with the exception of the Australian Region. 
I. THE WOOD-OWL, OR TAWNY OWL, SYRNIUM ALUCO.- 
Sfrix aluco, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 132 (1766); Newton, ed. 
Yarr. I’r. B. i. p. 146 (1872). 
Ulula alt..j, Macg. Br. B. iii. p. 438(1840); Seeb. Br. B. i. 
p. 154 (1883). 
Syrnium aluco, Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii. p. 247 (1875) ; 
Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 271, pi. 306 (1879) ; B. O. U. List 
Br. B. p. 87 (1883); Saunders, Man. Br. B. p. 287 
(1889); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. partxi. (1889), parts xxii. 
and XXV. (1892-93). 
innate XXXVIII.) 
Adult Male.— General colour above ashy-grey, with generally 
a slight tinge of rufous, the feathers with dark longitudinal 
"centres and zigzag cross-lines, imparting a vermiculated ap- 
pearance to the whole of the upper surface ; outer scapulars 
with a large oval spot of white ; quills light brown, barred 
with darker brown, the quills freckled with dusky at the tips, 
and on the light ashy or rufescent bars which are seen on the 
"outer web ; tail brown, mottled with ashy spots and lines, the 
outer feathers with dark brown bars, about six in number ; 
head rather greyer than the back, considerably mottled with 
white spots, especially on the hind-neck ; lores and feathers 
round the eye whitish; ear-coverts ashy with dusky-brown 
bars ; tail-feathers profusely barred with white or buffy-white 
and ’dusky-brown ; under surface of body ashy-white, with 
