Ulula rufipes.
Strix rufipes, King, in Zoological Journal, Vol. iii. p. 426.
I obtained a specimen of this bird from a party of Fuegians in the extreme southern islands of Tierra del Fuego. Owls are not uncommon in this country, and as small birds are not plentiful, and the lesser rodents extremely scarce, it at first appears difficult to imagine on what they feed. The following fact, perhaps, explains the circumstance: Mr. Bynoe, the surgeon to the “Beagle,” killed an owl in the Chonos Archipelago, where the nature of the country is very similar to that of Tierra del Fuego, and, on opening its stomach, he found it filled with the remains of large-sized crabs: I conclude, therefore, that these birds here likewise subsist chiefly on marine productions.
Sub-Fam.—STRIGINÆ.
1. Strix flammea. Linn.
I obtained a specimen of a white owl from Bahia Blanca in Northern Patagonia, and Mr. Gould remarks concerning it, that he only retains the name of S. flammea provisionally, until all the white owls, from various countries, shall have been subjected to a careful examination. Mr. Gould suspects, that when this is effected, the South American white owl will prove to be specifically distinct from that of Europe.
2. Strix punctatissima. G. R. Gray.
Plate IV.
S. supra nigricans, flavo subnebulosa, minutè albo-punctatissima, maculâ albâ ad apicem plumæ, cujusvis; subtus fulva, fasciis interruptis nigricantibus; caudâ dorso concolore, nigricanti-fasciatâ, apice albâ; disco faciali castaneo-rufo nigricanti-nebuloso circumdato, pogoniis internis albis, scapis nigris; pedibus longis, infra genu plumosis; tarso reliquo digitisque subpilosis.
Long. tot. 13½; alæ, 9¼; caudæ, 4¼; tarsi, 2⁷⁄₁₀.