310 
MOTTLED OWL. 
and primaries spotted with white ; tail, short, even, and 
mottled with black, pale brown, and whitish, on a dark brown 
ground ; its lower side, grey ; horns, (as they are usually 
called,) very prominent, 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 variegated 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 
evergreens in retired situations, are the usual roosting places 
of this and most of our other species. These retreats, how- 
ever, 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 circumstance of sometimes finding them abroad 
during the day, on fences and other exposed situations. 
