60 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



Family STRIGID^. The Owls. 



Form usuallj' short and heavj', with the head disproportionately large, and fre- 

 quently furnished with erectile tufts of feathers, resembling the ears of quadrupeds. 

 General organization adapted to vigorous and noiseless, but not rapid, flight, and to 

 the capture of animals in the morning and evening twilight. 



Eyes usually very large, directed forwards, and, in the greater number of species, 

 formed for seeing by twilight or in the night; bill rather strong, curved, nearly 

 concealed by projecting, bristle-like feathers; wings generally long, outer edges of 

 primary quills fringed; legs general!}' rather short, and in all species, except in one 

 Asiatic genus {Ketiipa), more or less feathered, generally densely; cavity of the ear 

 very large ; face encircled by a more or less perfect disc of short, rigid feathers, 

 which, with the large eyes, gives to those birds an entirely peculiar and frequently 

 catlike expression. Female larger than the male. 



Suh-Family Bubonin^. — The Horned Owls. 



Head large, with erectile and prominent ear-tufts ; eyes large ; facial disc not 

 complete above the eyes and bill; legs, feet, and claws usually very strong. 



BUBO, CuviEE. 



Bvbo, CuviER, R^gne Animal, L 831 (1817). 



Size large; general form very robust and powerful; head large, with conspicuous 

 ear-tufts ; eyes very large ; wings long ; tail short ; legs and toes very strong, densely 

 feathered ; claws very strong ; bill rather short, strong, curved, covered at base by 

 projecting feathers. 



This genus includes the large Homed Owls, or Cat Owls, as they are sometimes 

 called. These birds are most numerous in Asia and Africa, and there are in all 

 countries about fifteen species. 



BUBO VIRGINIANUS.— 5onapar<e. 



The Great Horned Owl. 



Strix Virginiana, Gm. Syst. Nat., I. 287 (1788). Bonap. Syn., p. 37. Nutt., L 

 124. Wilson, Audubon, and others. 



Bubo articus, Swains. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 86 (1831). 



Description. 

 Adult. — Large and strongly organized; ear-tufts large, erectile; bill strong, 

 fully curved; wing rather long; third quill usuallj' longest ; tail short; legs and 

 toes robust, and densely covered with short, downy feathers; claws very strong, 

 sharp, curved; variable in plumage, from nearly white to dark-brown, usually 

 with the upper parts dark-brown, every feather mottled, and with irregular trans- 

 rerse lines of pale-ashy and reddish-fulvous, the latter being the color of all the 

 plumage at the bases of the feathers ; ear-tufts dark- brown, nearly black, edged on 



