The Olds. 



The 0\VLS.-0;y/r;- Strigiformes. 



In the preceding pages I have discussed all the birds of the orders Passerifoniies. 



Pici, Coccyges, and Picaricv which are found in Great Britain. These are the Insessores 



of the older authors. I now come to the groups of the larger and more conspicuous 



birds, the British species of which I shall pass in review. The Owls are considered 



by some modern ornithologists not to be true Birds of Prey like Eagles and Hawks, 



but to constitute a totally distinct group, not very far removed from the Parrots. 



I cannot, however, agree to this proposition at all, for, allowing that the Owls are 



somewhat aberrant in structure, they so closely resemble other Birds of Prey in 



their habits and method of capturing their food that they must be held to be part 



of the great Accipitrine group, being connected with the Eagles and Falcons, etc., 



by the intermediate form Pandion which contains the Ospreys only. The Owls 



are remarkable for having a reversible outer toe, that is to say, this toe can be 



turned either backwards or forwards at will. As a rule the plumage is very soft 



and down)', and the flight noiseless, as befits a nocturnal bird setting forth to 



capture mice and other unwar\' animals in the gloaming. Some of the day-flying 



species, however, such as the Hawk-Owls and the Snowy Owls, have a more 



close-set and harsher plumage. The ear-openings of the Owl are always a feature 



in the different genera and varj' to a great extent, being sometimes shut in by 



an operculum, while in many cases the bony orifices are not symmetrical on both 



sides of the head, and differ in shape. There are two great families of Owls, 



the Bubonidcc and the Sfi-igidn, which are at once distinguished by the form of 



the ' merry-thought ' or furcula, which is free in the former, but is united to the 



sternum in the Stvigida, of which the Barn Owl is our only British representative, 



all the other species of Owls belonging to the Bubonidii . 



This is a magnificent bird measuring two-and-a-half or three 



feet in lentrth, and remarkable for its dark colour and stronglv 



EAGLE-OWL. " ' . . . . . 



,^ /,/,!, mottled plumage. It is scarcely possible to give a description of 



an Owl's plumage in detail, as there are so many wavy lines and 



mottlings, but the Eagle-Owl is easily recognised by its large size, enormous ear-tufts 



of feathers, and b}' its densely feathered toes. It is only a rare and accidental visitor to 



Great Britain, and is more often seen here in captivity than in a wild state. Its range 



extends throughout liurope and Northern Asia to Eastern Siberia. 



As might be imagined in so powerful a bird, the Eagle-Owl is capable of 



