BURROWING OWL. 
35 
comparisons.* When we consider the extraordinary 
habits attributed to all those, as well as their correspon- 
dence in form and colours noted in the several descriptions, 
we are strongly inclined to believe that they are all of 
the same species ; nevertheless Vieillot states his bird 
to be somewhat different from that of Molina, and the 
eggs of the burrowing' owl of the latter are spotted 
with yellow, whilst those of the former are immaculate. 
We have to regret that no figure has hitherto been 
published, and we cannot well understand why Vieillot 
did not thus exemplify so interesting* a bird. 
The peculiar subgenus of this bird has not hitherto 
been determined, owing' to the neglect with which 
naturalists have treated the arrangement of extra 
European owls. Like all diurnal owls, our bird belongs 
to the subgenus noctua of Savigny, having small oval 
openings to the ears, which are destitute of operculum, 
the facial disk of slender feathers small and incomplete, 
and the outer edges of the primaries not recurved ; but 
it differs from them in not having the tarsus and toes 
covered by long thick feathers. 
The burrowing owl is nine inches and a half long, 
and two feet in extent. The bill is horn colour, paler 
on the margin, and yellow on the ridges of both 
mandibles ; the inferior mandible is strongly notched 
on each side ; the capistrum before the eyes terminates 
in black rigid bristles, as long as the bill ; the irides are 
bright yellow. The general colour of the plumage is 
a light burnt-umber, spotted with whitish, paler on the 
head and upper part of the neck ; the lower part of the 
breast and belly are whitish, the feathers of the former 
being banded with brown ; the inferior tail-coverts are 
white immaculate. The wings are darker than the 
body, the feathers being much spotted and banded with 
whitish ; the primaries are five or six banded, each band 
being more or less widely interrupted near the shaft, 
* Should they prove to be different species, new appellations 
must be given ; and, as that of Stria ? cunicularia will, by right of 
priority, be exclusively retained for the Coquimbo owl, we would 
propose for the present bird the name of Strix hypug&a . 
