STRIGIN^. STRIX. 
25 
curved, the sides nearly flat and erect, the tip deflected, 
vrith a rounded but sharp-edged point ; lower mandible with 
the dorsal line convex, the sides convex, the edges arched, 
the tip obliquely truncate. Conch of the ear semicircular^ 
extending from over the anterior angle of the eye to the 
middle of the lower jaw ; aperture large, somewhat square, 
with an anterior operculum fringed with feathers. Legs 
rather long, tarsus long, feathered, scaly at the lower part ; 
toes large, the first short, the inner nearl^^ as long as the 
middle, all with series of small tuberculiform oblong scales, 
intermixed with a few bristles, and three broad scutella at 
the end. Claws arched, long, extremely sharp, the edge of 
the third thin and transversely cracked in old birds. Plum- 
age very soft and downy ; facial disks complete. Wings long, 
ample, rounded ; the first quill with the filaments recurved. 
Tail rather short, even. 
34. 1. Strix Americana, Aud. American Screech-Owl. 
— Barn Owl. 
Plate CL XXL Male and Female. 
Feathers margining the operculum with the shaft and webs undeve- 
loped. Bill pale greyish-yellow ; claws and scales brownish-yellow. 
General colour of upper parts greyish-brown, with light yellowish- red 
interspersed, produced by very minute mottling ; each feather having to- 
ward the end a central streak of deep brown, terminated by a small ob- 
long greyish- white spot ; wings similarly coloured ; secondary coverts 
and outer edges of primary coverts with a large proportion of light 
brownish-red ; quills and tail transversely barred with brown ; lower 
parts pale brownish-red, fading anteriorly into white, each feather having 
a small dark brown spot at the tip. 
Closely allied to Stria; fiammea, but larger, and differing somewhat 
in colour, being generally darker, with the ruff red. A character by 
which they may always be distinguished is found in the operculum, 
the feathers margining which are in the present species reduced to their 
tubes, the shafts and filaments being wanting, whereas in the Euro- 
pean species each tube bears a very slender shaft, about half an inch 
long, and furnished with about half a dozen filaments on each side. 
Male, VJ, 42. Female, 18, 46. 
Southern States. Breeds from Texas to North Carolina. Never seen 
in the interior, or to the north. Rather common. 
c 
