142 
MOTTLED OWL. 
lower side gray; horns (as they are usually called) very promi- 
nent, each composed of ten feathers; increasing in length from 
the front backwards, and lightest on the inside; face whitish, 
marked with small touches of dusky, and bounded on each side 
with a circlet of black; breast and belly white, beautifully varie- 
gated with ragged streaks of black, and small transverse touches 
of brown; legs feathered nearly to the claws, with a kind of 
hairy down, of a pale brown colour; vent and under tail-coverts 
white, the latter slightly marked with brown; iris of the eye a 
brilliant golden yellow; bill and claws bluish horn colour. 
This was a female. The male is considerably less in size; the 
general colours darker; and the white on the wing-coverts not 
so observable. 
Hollow trees, either in the woods or orchard, or close ever- 
greens, in retired situations, are the usual roosting places of this 
and most of our other species. These retreats, however, are 
frequently discovered by the Nuthatch, Titmouse, or Blue Jay, 
who instantly raise the alarm; a promiscuous group of feathered 
neighbours soon collect round the spot, like crowds in the 
streets of a large city, when a thief or murderer is detected; and 
by their insults and vociferation oblige the recluse to seek for 
another lodging elsewhere. This may account for the circum- 
stance of sometimes finding them abroad during the day, on 
fences and other exposed situations. 
