are equal, and very little shorter than the third, which is the longest. This struc-
ture must be productive of a weaker flight than that of the Owls Short or Long-eared (Strix otus and brachyota).—Sw.
DESCRIPTION
Of a specimen killed at Fort Chepewyati.
Colour. Bill and clam pale bluish-black. Irides bright-yellow. Facial circle of a deep
black immediately round the orbit; composed of white, mixed with black bristly feathers at
the base of the bill, and posteriorly of yellowish-brown wiry feathers, tipped with black, and
having black shafts. The black tips form a conspicuous border to the facial circle posteriorly;
but the small feathers behind the auditory opening differ little in colour and appearance from
the adjoining plumage of the neck. Egrets composed of ten or twelve dark-brown feathers,
spotted at the base of their outer webs and along their whole inner ones with yellowish-
brown. Forehead and crown dark blackish-brown, finely mottled with greyish-white, and
partially exhibiting-the yellowish-brown base of the plumage. The whole dorsal plumage
is yellowish-brown for more than half the length of each feather from its base, and dark
liver-brown upwards, finely barred and indented with undulated white lines. More of
the yellowish-brown is visible on the neck and between the shoulders than elsewhere. The
primaries present six or seven bars of dark umber or liver brown, alternating with six bars,
which pn the outer webs are brownish-white, finely speckled with dark-brown, and on the
inner webs are of a bright buff-colour, sparingly speckled with the dark-brown near the shafts.
The tips of the feathers have the same mottled appearance with the paler bars of the outer
webs. The secondaries and tail feathers are similarly marked to the primaries, but show
more white on their outer webs. There are six liver-brown bars on the tail, the last of
which is nearly an inch from its end.
Under surface.— Chin white, succeeded by a belt, extending from ear to ear, of liver-brown
feathers, having pale yellowish-brown margins. Behind the belt there is a gorget-shaped
mark of pure white. The rest of the lower surface of the body is crossed by very regular
transverse bars of white, alternating with bars of equal breadth (three lines) of liver-brown,
shaded with chocolate-brown. The yellowish-brown base of the plumage is likewise partially
visible ; there is a white mesial line on the breast, and, when the long feathers covering the
abdomen are turned aside, a good deal of white appears about the vent. The outside thigh
feathers are yellowish-brown, with distant cross, bars of liver-brown; and the legs and feet are
brownish-white, with brown spots. The linings of the wings are white, with bars of liver-
brown, margined by yellowish-brown. The insides of the primaries are bright-buff, crossed
by broad bars of clove-brown. On the under surface of the secondaries the clove-brown bars
are much narrower. The under tail coverts are whitish, with distant bars of liver-brown. The
under surface of the tail has a slight tinge of buff-colour, and is crossed by mottled bars of
clove-brown.
Form, 8cc.—Head of moderate size. Bill very strong, curved from the base with an obtuse
ridge; its cutting margin very obtusely lobed in the middle. Cere moderately long. Nostrils
broadly oval. Facial circle incomplete above the eye. Auditory opening only three-quarters
of an inch long, oval, without an operculum. Scapularies rather long. Tertiaries long,
falling only about an inch short of the tip of the wing. The irings, when folded, fall four inches
short of the end of the tail. The wing feathers have broad webs. The third quill feather is
the longest; the second and fourth are scarcely perceptibly shorter; the fifth is three-quarters
of an inch, and the first an inch and a quarter shorter; the sixth and following ones diminish
in length from three-quarters to half an inch in succession. The inner webs of the first and
second are strongly sinuated, and that of the third less so; the outer webs of the second, third,
and fourth, are distinctly undulated or obliquely sinuated. The margins of the outer one, and
that of the second and third below their sinuations, have the points of the barbs strongly reverted.
The feathers of the tail have broad webs. The tail is slightly rounded, the exterior feathers
being less than three-quarters of an inch shorter than the middle ones. Feet clothed to the
nails, at the root of which two large scales become visible when the feathers are turned aside.
Middle and fore claws of the same length, both grooved beneath, and the former having an
acute inner edge. Claws reaching within less than two inches of the end of the tail. The
hind and outer one are smaller, and are slightly grooved at the base beneath. The middle
and outer toe are connected at the base by a very short, thick web.
D im en sio n s.
Length from the tip of the bill to the end 0£Inches* llMS' Length of the tail . . . .
the t a i l ......................................... 26 0 „ of the longest quill feather . 14 0
„ of the bill, measured along its ridge 2 0 „ o f the tarsus . . . . 2 3
„ ' „ from the angle of the „ 0f the middle toe . . ' 1 9 mouth to the tip . . . . 1 8 „ of the middle nail . . . 1 3 „ of the cere-on its ridge . . 0 9
Another specimen, killed by Mr. Drummond on the Rocky Mountains, measures
two inches less in length, and differs generally from the preceding in being
of a darker hue above, with finer and less copious white mottling. The yellowish-
brown colour of the base of the plumage is also less bright, and the facial circle
is of a more sombre hue. Its bill, also, is more compressed.