OCR Text |
Show BIRDS. 35 of head and throat smoky brown, mottled with numerous small white dots, on the tips of the feathers. Back and wing-coverts the same, with the white spots larger and purer. Wings : primaries, same dark brown, mottled with dull chesnut red; the tip of each, with the exception of the three first, is marked with a triangular white spot, of the same kind with those over the rest of the body, but larger. Tail, tl·ansversely barred with brown and reddish fulvous, and the extreme points mottled with white. · Under swface. Breast, belly and lining of wings, fulvous, mottled with brown ;-the feathers being transversely barred with narrow brown lines. Under side of tail, pale gray, with well defined transverse bars of a darker gray. Short downy feathers on tarsi, of a brighter fulvous than the rest of the under surface. FoRM. -Third primary rather longer than second; first equal to third. Wing, exceeding the ·tail in length by nearly one inch and a quarter. Short feathers on the tarsus, extending about one-third of its length, below the knee. Tarsi, elongated. Toes and lower part of tarsi, with few scattered brown hairs. Total length . Wing Tail In. 13~ Oj 4} Tarsi Tip of beak to rictus Middle too, from root of claw to hllbe Habitat, James Island, Galapagos Archipelago, (October.) I am indebted to Mr. G. R. Gray for the description of this species, which is deposited in the British Museum. Only one specimen was obtained during our visit to the Galapagos Archipelago; and this formed part of the collection made by the direction of Captain FitzRoy. This owl is in every respect a true Strix ; it is fully a third less than the common species of Europe, and differs from it in many respects, especially in the darker colouring of its plumage. The colouring of the Plate is not perfectly accurate in its minuter details. |