OWLS 



97 



OWLS 



Order Raptores; suborder Striges; families Aliiconida and Strigidw 



]\VLS arc nnctvirnal birds of pre}' and in the field of usefulness are the com- 

 plement of the Hawks — the Hawks working by day and the Owls by night. 

 Like the other raptorial birds Owls capture their prey with their feet. If the 

 victim is not too large, it is swallowed entire and the hair and bones disgorged 

 afterward in the form of pellets. It is the examinations of these pellets which 

 have proved beyond a doubt that the Owls should be classified among the 

 beneficial birds. 



The eyes of Owls are directed forward so that both look in the same direc- 

 tion and to look to the side they are obliged to turn the head: the eyes are 

 surrounded by radiating systems of feathers called facial disks, which are 

 bounded, except directly in front, by a line or rim of small, narrow, stiff, com- 

 pactly webbed, differently formed, and somewhat recurved feathers. For scientific purposes 

 the Owls are divided into two families, the Aluconidcc, or Barn Owls, and the Strigidw, which 

 includes the Horned or Eared Owls, the Barred Owls, the Screech Owls, and all the other Owls. 

 Sjjcaking generally, the Barn Uwls have the face heart-shaped, with the lower apex very 

 prominent. The various species have a complete and conspicuous facial ruff, relatively 

 small eyes, elongated bill, long legs with feathering on the posterior part reversed (pointed 

 inward), inner toe as long as the middle toe, the head without ear-tufts. The eyes are very 

 small (beadlike), surrounded by a verj- conspicuous line of differently formed feathers. 

 The wing is ver}* long; the tail less than half as long as the wing and more or less distinctly 

 notched. The claws are very long and sharp. The plumage coloration is prevailing white, 

 buff, or tawny, and is usually more or less freckled or otherwise variegated (at least on the 

 upper parts) with brown or dusky. The range of the genus is nearly cosmopolitan, the 

 colder regions excepted. Nearly 30 forms are recognized, of which about one-third are 

 American, but only one of which is found in the United States. 



Unlike the Barn Owls, the Strigidcc have the face more or less circular, or at least not 

 pointed below, while the leg-feathers (if present) are not reversed or recurved, but are pointed 

 downward. The head is frequently surmounted by a pair of more or less distinct, often 

 very conspicuous, ear- or horn-like tufts of feathers, and the eyes are, as a rule, large and 

 prominent; but there are numerous genera in which these features are not present. 



As in the Barn Owls, the Strigidcc have the plumage remarkably full, soft, and downy, 

 and in coloration more or less protective. The sexes are invariably colored essentially 

 alike. Frequently the plumage is dichromatic, different individuals of the same species, 

 wholly independent of sex or age, differing remarkably in coloration, the extreme phases 

 being represented by birds of a gray or brownish gray color on the one hand and others of 

 a more or less cinnamon-rufous or brick-red hue, individuals of intermediate coloration 

 being usually much less numerous than those representing the extremes. These distinct 

 phases are constant from first plumage to old age, and are frequently to be found in one 

 brood of young. 



The Strigidcc are more nearh- cosmopolitan than the Barn Owls, being absent only from 

 Polynesia, representatives of the family existing in Madagascar, New Zealand, the Hawaiian 

 Islands and the Arctic districts. Thirty recent genera and nearly three hundred species and 

 subspecies are recognized, of which eighteen genera and about one hundred species (including 

 subspecies) are American. 



Owls generally place their nests in holes in trees or banks, or they may use the deserted 

 nest of a Hawk or a Crow. The eggs are from three to five in number and are invariably 

 pure white. Young Owls are thickly covered with white down. 



