400 OWLS 



America nest together in large colonies. As usual among the larger 

 birds-of-pre}', the nest is a huge untidy structure of sticks with a 

 certain amount of lining ; but the eggs are remarkable for the great 

 beauty of their colouring and marking, on which account they are 

 highly prized by collectors. Usually three in number, they have a 

 white ground, upon which are spots and blotches of red and purplish 

 brown, sometimes massed at the larger end so as to almost obscure 

 the white ; in length they measure about 2^ inches. They are laid 

 in a slight hollow on the flat upper surface of the nest. 



„ , The barn-owl, or screech-owl (the Aliico flainuiea of 



Barn-Owl , / • ,- . -^ , 



r, . ^ \ some authors), is our nrst representative of the order 



(Strix flammea). ^ . ^ , , . , r , . , 



btriges, or nocturnal bn-ds-of-prey — a group which 



is often regarded as serving to connect the Accipitres with the Psittaci, 

 or parrots (the latter unrepresented in the l^ritish fauna). Had we 

 to deal with the skeleton alone, it is probable that owls would never 

 have been separated in systematic zoology from the diurnal birds-of- 

 prey. The soft-parts are, however, very different in the two groups, 

 and the evidence of these points to the near affinity of owls to 

 goatsuckers. In common with the osprey, the owls are character- 

 ised by the outer toe being reversible, so that it can be turned 

 backwards to act with the hind -toe. They are, however, specially 

 distinguished by the forward direction of the generally large eyes, 

 and the short and sharply-curved hooked beak, which is covered at 

 the base by a waxy " cere," almost completely concealed by a mass 

 of bristly feathers growing from the forehead and the region of the 

 ears, the nostrils being pierced in this cere in the same manner as in 

 the Accipitres, In the majority of owls the head is large, with the 

 feathers of the face radiating outwards from each eye as a centre, and 

 collectively forming what is known as the face-disk ; this being defined 

 externally by a frill of dense, stiff feathers. It is this which gives 

 to the more typical representatives of the group their characteristic 

 " owlish " physiognomy. The somewhat similar face -disk of the 

 harriers (in. which the eyes arc directed outwards) cannot be regarded as 

 indicative of any special affinity between those birds and the owls, the 

 two structures having doubtless been developed quite independentl}-. 



In many owls a pair of "horns," or, rather, ear-tufts, is developed 

 above the upper margin of the face-disk. An owl's plumage is notice- 

 able on account of the soft loose structure of the feathers — an 

 arrangement largely conducive to the silent flight of these nocturnal 

 birds, which are thus enabled to pounce suddenly upon their unsus- 



