12 
BRITISH BIRDSo 
THE LITTLE HORNED OWL. 
( Strix Scops , Lin . — Le Scops , ou petit Due , Buff. ) 
This is the smallest of the Owl kind ; its bill is of a 
brown colour at the base, and paler at the tip ; irides 
light yellow. The upper plumage appears of a brown 
colour, the under grey, but on nearer inspection the 
whole is prettily variegated with white spots, streaks, 
and bars of dusky brown, rufous and yellow, and al- 
most every feather is speckled with white, brown, and 
grey ; the circular feathers on the face are powdered 
with brown ; the neck, head, and horns, or ear fea- 
thers, are much the same, but more distinctly marked 
with bars, streaks, and spots of white, yellow and 
brown; the back feathers and greater coverts of the 
wings are barred, streaked, and speckled with the 
same kind of colours, but are on their outer margins 
patched with spots of white; the greater quills are 
transversely barred on their outer webs with white and 
