3 21 
\ 
The Hijlory of ANIMALS. 
black fpot juft at the flexure of the wing: the reft of the feathers which cover the 
wings are very beautifully variegated with black, reddifh-brown, and white. 
The back feathers are like thofe of the wings3 they are black in the middle, and 
yellow and white toward the edges, and they are laid with an uncommon regularity and 
order over one another. 
The horns or ears confift each of only fix feathers 5 they are very elegant and mo¬ 
derately long 3 the middle of each feather is black, but the edges are of a reddifh- 
brown, and fometimes whitifh. ' 
The tail is long, and is variegated with fix or feven black, narrow, and tranfverfe 
areolae 3 the intermediate fpaces are greyifh on the upper fide of the tail, and yellow 
underneath : the principal or long feathers of the wings are of the fame colours with 
thofe of the tail, but in fome of the exterior ones there is a broad reddifh-brown faf- 
cia toward the bafe 5 and, on the largeft of thefe feathers, the black areolae are alio 
confiderably bigger than thofe on the others. 
The legs are very robuft and moderately long ; the claws are large, black, and 
fharp, and that of the middle toe is, on the interior part, compreffed into a kind of 
edge. 
On opening the body, the gall-bladder is found to be remarkably large * the appen¬ 
dages of the inteftines alfo are very large and tumid 3 and the ftomach large, and ufu- 
ally filled with the bones of mice, fometimes with the cruftaceous remains of large 
beetles, and other infe&s. 
It is a native of moft of the warmer parts of Europe; Italy, and the South of 
France, abound with it. It was long fuppofed not to be a native of our own country, 
but it has been difcovered wild, and breeding with us, but that very rarely. It is fo 
like the great horn-owl in every thing but fize, that many of the earlier writers 
on thefe fubjects were in debate, whether it were properly a diftindt fpecies, or only the 
young of that. All the writers on this part of natural hiftory have defcribed it. Bel- 
lonius call it Afio and Otus; Willughby, Otus five No&ua aurita; Ray, Otus five Noc- 
tua aurita, Afio Latinis. It fometimes inhabits ruins and deferted buildings, but more 
frequently the hollow trunks of trees in large forefts, and flies abroad in the evening. 
Strix capite Itevi, cor pore ferrugineo oculorum iridibus atris , 
remigibus prioribus ferratis . t 
The brown Strix) with a fmooth head, with black eyes, and iPUlL 
the primary wing-feathers ferrated. 
This is a large and beautiful bird; it is equal in fize to a well-grown pullet: the 
general colour is grey, with a flight tinge of a ferrugineous brown in it: the head, 
the back, and the wings are of this colour 3 the tail alfo is of the fame colour, only 
paler than the reft, and all thefe parts are variegated with fpots of white and of black; 
the breaft is of a paler grey than any other part, and the belly is white, but varie- 
gated with a number of elegant black fpots : the head is remarkably large, thick, and 
full of feathers 3 it is of a rounded figure, and has no ears or horns : the &yes are large 
and beautiful 3 their iris is of a deep black, and they are furrounded in a beautiful 
manner, with each a circle of fhort white feathers 3 and within thefe, at the verge of 
the eye-lids, there is a circle of red : the beak is crooked, ftrong, and of a greenifh 
colour; the noftrils are very wide : the wings are very large; they are, when clofed, 
fo long, as to reach to the extremity of the tail: the legs are moderately long, and 
very robuft 3 they are feathered all the way down to the very ends of the toes 3 the 
claws are large, ftrong, very fharp and grey. 
Behind the ears, in this fpecies, there is a fegment of a circle formed of extreamly 
odd feathers 3 and, toward the fides of the back, the white fpots are large and frequent. 
The three firft of the remiges or wing-feathers are ferrated at the exterior edge, and 
are gradually fhorter, and all of them are of a pale grey colour, with a number of 
broad, brown fafeise: the tail-feathers are grey if]), and have fine brown falci^, ex¬ 
cepting only the two intermediate ones 3 and the feathering of the legs is white, with 
black fpots. 
This fpecies is frequent in many parts of Europe; it principally inhabits thick 
woods, and lives in the trunks of hollow trees. Gefner calls it Ulula 3 Aldrovand 
alfo calls it, fimply, by the fame name 3 he has given a tolerably accurate defeription 
4 N of 
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