Plate XLVI. Male.
General colour of upper parts light reddish-brown; face and greater
part of the head brownish-white; the feathers of the latter broadly
marked with brown, of which a narrow band passes from the bill along
the middle of the head; feathers of the back and most of the
wing-coverts largely spotted with white; primary coverts, quills, and
tail, barred with light brownish-red; wings and tail tipped with
greyish-white; lower parts pale brownish-red, longitudinally streaked
with brown, excepting the neck and upper part of the breast, which are
transversely marked, the abdomen, which is yellowish-white, and the
tarsal feathers, which are light reddish.
_Male_, 18, 40.
From Texas to Nova Scotia. Resident in the south and west. Very
abundant.
Barred Owl, Strix nebulosa, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 61.
Strix nebulosa, Bonap. Syn. p. 38.
Barred Owl, Strix nebulosa, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 133.
Barred Owl, Strix nebulosa, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 242: v.
v. p. 386.
GENUS V. OTUS, Cuv. EARED-OWL.
Bill short, stout, broader than high at the base, compressed toward
the end; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly curved from the
base, toward the end decurved, the ridge broad at the base, narrowed
anteriorly, the sides convex toward the tip, which is acute, and
descends obliquely; lower mandible straight, with the dorsal line very
short and slightly convex, the back and sides convex, the edges toward
the end decurved, and with a slight sinus on each side, the tip
obliquely truncate. Nostrils large, oblique, oblong. Conch of extreme
size; extending from the level of the forehead over the eye to the
chin in a semilunar form, with an anterior semicircular flap in its
whole length, the aperture large, of a rhomboidal form. Feet of
moderate length, and stout; tarsi short, feathered, as are the toes;
the first shortest, the second and fourth nearly equal; claws long,
curved in the fourth of a circle, extremely acute, the first and
second rounded beneath. Plumage extremely soft and downy, facial
disks complete, ruff distinct. Two small tufts of elongated feathers
on the head. Wings long and broad; the second quill longest; the outer
in its whole length, the second toward the end, and the first alular
feather, with the filaments disunited and recurved at the ends. Tail
rather short, a little rounded.