246 AVES. 



of the circle of feathers which surrounds their eyes, and some other 

 characters. 



Those species which have a large and complete disk of fringed 

 feathers round the eyes, itself encircled by a ring or collerette of 

 scaly feathers, between which is a large opening for the ear, are 

 further removed, as to form and habits, from the diurnal birds of 

 prey, than those in which the ear is small, oval, and covered by 

 fringed feathers, which spring from under the eye. Traces of these 

 differences may be seen even on the skeleton. Among the first spe- 

 cies we will particularize, 



Otus, Cuv. 



The Horned Owls, or those which have two tufts of feathers on 

 the forehead, (vulg. horns,) which they can erect at pleasure ; the 

 conch of whose ear extends in a semicircle from the beak to the 

 top of the head, and is furnished in front with a membranous oper- 

 culum. Their feet are feathered down to the nails. Such in Europe 

 are the 



Str. ascalaphus, Savig. Eg.; Brit. Zool. tab. B, 3. A fourth 

 larger than the common one, and like it, fulvous spotted with 

 brown, and vermiculated on the wings and back ; but the belly 

 transversely striped with narrow lines, and the crests or tufts 

 very short. It properly belongs to Africa, but is sometimes 

 seen in Europe.(l) 



Str. otus, L. ; Moyen Due, Buff.; Frisch, Ixxxix; Brit. Zool. 

 tab. B, iv, f. 1; Naum. 45, 1. (The Common Owl.) Fawncolour- 

 ed, with longitudinal brown spots on the body and underneath ; 

 wings and back vermiculated with brown ; horns half the length 

 of the head ; eight or nine bands on the tail. 



Str. ulula and Str. brachyotos, Gm.; Moyen Due a huppes 

 courtes, Enl. 438 ; Frisch, c ; Naum. 45, 2 ; Brit. Zool. tab. B, 

 iv, f. 2 ; Wils. IV, xxxiii, 3. As to colouring, nearly similar 

 to the preceding ; back, not reticulated ; narrow longitudinal 

 lines on the belly, and four or five brown bands on the tail. 

 The tufts or horns are only found on the male, and are so small 

 and so seldom erected, that this bird was for a long time left 

 among the species without tufts, and even formed two species. 

 Found almost every where. (2) 



(1) Witness the one represented in Brit. Zool. whose figure has so much em- 

 barrassed the naturalists. 



(2) Add the American Owl, {Str. mexicana,) Gm. or Str. damator, Vieill. Am. 

 20, or Str. longirostris, Spix, IX, which only differs from our Common Owl in the 

 greater blackness of the spots. The Hibou iacket^ du Cap, {Str. africana, T. ) 



