648 



SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — ACCIPITRES. 



X 100; they are laid from April to July. The bird's food is chiefly insects, small reptiles, 

 and quadrupeds, birds being apparently rarely taken. It is easily able to prey upon mammals 

 up to the size of gophers, cliipmunks, and even rabbits, and habitually does so upon the young 

 at least of the various rodents, formerly supposed to be its hosts, with which it associates, thus 

 being by no means the friendly and welcome guest of those fairy-tales I was among the first t(» 

 discredit. As a whole, the species is resident, being able to endure extremely cold weather ; but 

 migration is of regular occurrence in some regions. 



S. c. florid'ana. (Of Florida. Fig. 44.3.) Florida Burrowing Owl. Like the last ; 

 rather smaller; wing 6.00-t)..)0; tail 3.00; shanks more extensively denuded, only feathered 

 about half-way down in front ; feet and bill relatively longer. Upper parts darker, rather 

 bistre-brown, more profusely and confusedly spotted with smaller and whiter marks ; under 

 parts more heavily and regularly barred with darker brown. Florida ; an isolated local race, 

 small colonies of which are common in suitable open places in various parts of the State ; it 

 is also ascribed to the Bahamas. But the Burrowing Owls of some other Antillean islands 

 are a ditterent species or subspecies {quadeloupensis) . The burrows are excavated by the birds 

 themselves to the extent of 3 to 8 feet or more, generally quite near the surface of the ground; 

 eggs indistinguishable from those of hypogcea, but only 4-8, usually 6, laid March-May. 



Suborder ACCIPITRES : Diurnal Birds of Prey. 



This large group, comprising the great majority of Raptores, may be most readily defined 

 by exclusion of the particular characters of other suborders. There is nothing of the grallato- 

 rial analogy shown by the singular Gypogeranides. The nostrils are not completely pervious, 

 nor is the hallux elevated, as in Catliartides ; while other peculiarities of American Vultures 

 are wanting. Comparing Accipitres with Striges, we miss the peculiar physiognomy of Owls, 

 the eyes looking laterally as in ordinary birds, and the facial disc being absent (rudimentary in 



Fig. 444. — Shoulder-joint of Accipitres ; after Ridgway. a, anterior end of coracoid ; 6, upper end of clavicle; 

 c, scapular process of coracoid, reaching b in the middle fig. (Falco peregrinus), but not iu the left-liand fig. (Buteo 

 hore(iUs), nor in the right-hand fig. {Pandion haliaetus) ; d, lower end of scapula. The figs. nat. size, left side, viewed 

 from opposite side. 



CirciiKc) ; aftershafts are usually present ; the outer toe is not shorter than inner one, nor versa- 

 tile (except Pandionida'). The external ears are moderate and non-operculate. The eye is 

 usually sunken beneath a much projecting superciliary shield, conferving a decided and threat- 

 ening gaze. The bill shows the raptorial type perfectly, and is always provided with a cere 

 in which (not at its edge as in most Owls) the nostrils open; the cutting edges are usually 

 lobed, or toothed (see any figs.). The lores, with occasional exceptions, due to nakedness or 

 dense soft featherings, are scantily clothed with radiating bristly feathers, which, however, do 

 not form, as usual in Owls, a dense appressed ruff hiding base of bill. Wings of 10 primaries, 

 and tail of 12 rectrices (with rare exceptions) ; both extremely vai-iable in shape and relative 



