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BIRDS OF PREY. 
Subgenus. — Bubo. 
Conch of the ear moderate, oval, with a membranous cover. Feet 
thickly covered to the claws with short feathers. The disk or rim 
of feathers round the face not very distinct. 
t With the head furnished with ear-like tufts. 
GREAT HORNED OWL, or CAT OWL. 
(Str'ix virginiana, Gm. Wilson, vi. p. 52. pi. 50. fig. 1. Audubon, 
pi. 61, [unusually dark and large]. Philad. Museum, No. 410.) 
Spec. Charact. ■ — Mottled ; primaries and tail feathers banded with 
black and dusky ; shell of the ear moderate ; wings not extend- 
ing to the tip of the tail ; a very large species. 
This species, so nearly related to the Great Eared 
Owl of Europe, is met with occasionally from Hudson’s 
Bay to Florida, and exists even beyond the tropics, being 
very probably the same bird described by Marcgrave as 
inhabiting the forests of Brazil. All climates are alike 
to this Eagle of the night, the king of the nocturnal tribe 
