390 



STRIGIN^. 



tongue ; h, its basal portion ; c c, part of the hyoid bones ; d e, 

 the trachea, flattened, somewhat wider above, composed of 

 ninety rings, of which one at the bifurcation is similar to that 

 of the Hawks, Fig. 3. The bronchi, p k, g A, are wide, very 

 short, composed of about fourteen half-rings. The lateral 

 muscles, ij, ij, are rather slender, and terminate partly, as 

 usual, in the sterno-tracheales, j k, j k, and partly in a single 

 pair of inferior laryngeal muscles, j/, j/, inserted into the first 

 bronchial ring. 



The eyes are always extremely large, fixed in the orbits, or 

 having very little motion, directed obliquely forwards, so that 

 an object may be perceived by both at once, although, as their 

 axes are never parallel, they cannot both be directed to the 

 game point. The upper eyelid is very large, and both are cili- 

 ated with barbed plumelets, and have a broad, thin, bare mar- 

 gin. Nostrils rather large, or of moderate size, round, oval, or 

 elliptical, and placed near the anterior margin of the cere, but 

 generally concealed by bristles. The aperture of the ear is 

 never small, generally very large, often of extreme size, and 

 frequently furnished with an operculum or lid. 



The legs are of moderate length, or short ; the tibia muscular ; 

 the tarsus covered with feathers, which however are sometimes 



destitute of filaments, and being thus reduced to the shafts, 

 resemble hairs. The toes are also feathered, but in many spe- 

 cies the feathers upon them are reduced to the shafts. In a 

 few Asiatic species, both tarsi and toes are bare, and covered 



