M.. de Buffon fuppofes this bird to be the fame with that mentioned
by Kolben * in his hiftory of the Cape-, and adds from Marc-
grave, that it is eafily tamed; that it will play with any one
like a Monkey; that it can turn it’s head quite round, fo that
its bill quite touches the back, and frequently puts itfelf into
very droll attitudes, &V.
H m o t™ Mottled Owl, Cat. N. Amer. anim. p. 9. f
c -— Am. Zool. N°
Lev. Muf.
H E length of this fpecies is eight inches and a half. The
bill is brown: irides yellow: the plumage on the upper
D escription, f j i
parts of the body is of a grey colour, mottled with ferruginous
and black : the lhaft of each feather is black, with three or four
waved bars of the fame on each fide: thefe marks are the fame,
but more diftindb, beneath, where the ground colour is paler:
the feathers round the face are tipped with black, as are the feathers
of the bread alfo : the ears are an inch or more in
length: the legs are feathered to the toes: the claws are brown.
Inhabits North America.
Kolben obferves, that at the Cape of Good Hope there are a great quantity
of Owls, of the fame lize with thofe of Europe, which are partly red and partly
black, with a mixture of grey, which renders them very beautiful, and that the
Europeans there let them run tame about their houfes, to clear them of Rats.
See Hiß. Cap. vol. iii. p. 198, 199.
From the circumftance of their being eafily tamed, as thofe are at Brafil, and
being nearly in the fame latitude, he thinks it poffible that they may be, in
faß, varieties of the fame fpecies.
Little Hawk Owl of Ceylon, Ind. Zool, N° 3.
T H E length is feven inches. The bill is dufky, fur rounded
with long briftles : the circle of feathers furrounding the
eyes pale alh; externally of a pale brown: the horns or ears
arife at the bafe of the Jb-ill, and point towards the lides of the
head: the head itfelf deeper brown: the back dulky: wing-coverts
grey, marked with narrow lines of black, pointing downwards:
the quills are regularly barred with black and white: the bread
is buff-coloured, marked with fmall fagittal black fpots : legs
feathered half way down : the naked parts of a reddifh yellow.
This fpecies is defcribed and figured by Mr. Pennant, in his
Indian Zoology ;; who informs us that it inhabits Ceylon, and is
called there Bakkameena.
Strix Giu, Scop. An. i. p.-19. N° 9.
Maid UufH, Kram. Elen. p. 323. N° 3.
*^ 'HIS is in fize about that of the Little Owl. The ears In the
dead bird are not to be difcovered : the irides are yellow :
the noftrils are very near together, being divided as it were only
by aline: the colour of the body is a whitifh alh, variegated
with fpots and tranfverfe ftriae o f a blackifh colour: fix of the
prime quills are fpotted with whitifh on one fide: tail brownifh,
and fpotted likewife.
12,
INDIAN
E. O.
D e s c r i p t io n .
CARNIOLIC
E. O.
D e s c r i p t io n ,