Older X. STRIGES. 



The Owls form almost as natural an order as the Parrots, and 

 occupy, both in external characters and in their anatomy, a posi- 

 tion between the Psittaci and the Accipitres. Although long 

 regarded as a suborder of the Accipitrine or Raptorial birds, they 

 have of late years been generally placed in a distinct ordinal 

 group. 



Amongst the more conspicuous characters are the reversible 

 outer toe, the position of the eyes, which are always directed for- 

 ward and are generally very large, and the short curved and 

 hooked bill, the basal portion covered with a cei'e in which the 

 nostrils are pierced, the cere being almost entirely concealed by 

 the mass of bristly feathers on the lores and forehead. In most of 

 the genera the head is large and the facial portion covered with 

 feathers radiating from the eyes and forming the facial disk, the 

 outer margin of which is surrounded by a ruff of close-textured 

 feathers forming a conspicuous border. From the margin of the 

 ruff above the eyes there arise in many Owls aigrettes of 

 lengthened feathers, known also as horns or ear-tufts, the last 

 term being incorrect. The plumage is soft, and the coloration 

 generally brown or rufous, the feathers in some genera being deli- 

 cately vermiculated or stippled as in the Caprimulgl. 



The feet are strong and furnished with short claws ; a hallux is 

 always present. The oil-gland is nude. The spinal feather-tract 

 is well defined on the neck. There is no aftershaft. There are 

 always 11 primaries. The flexor longus hallucis leads to the 

 hallux, and the flexor perforans digitorum to the remaining three 

 digits, but the two tendons are united by a broad vincidum. 

 There is no ambiens muscle ; the femoro-caudal is present, but the 

 accessory femoro-caudal and the semitendinosus and accessory 

 semitendinosus are wanting, Basipterygoid processes are present 

 and the palate is desmognathous, or, according to Gadow, schizo- 

 •gnathous with a desmognathous tendency. Both carotids are 

 present and the caeca are large. Cervical vertebrae 14. 



All Owls lay white and very round eggs, and the majority, h"ke 

 Parrots and most Picarian birds, take possession of a hole or 

 hollow in the trunk or a branch of a tree for the purpose of nidi- 

 fication, and use little or no lining. A few lay their eggs in holes 

 amongst rocks, or on the ground, or in abandoned nests of other 

 birds, and some are said to build their own nests of sticks. The 

 young are hatched helpless and covered with down. The female, 

 in some Owls, exceeds the male in size, but not to the degree that 

 prevails amongst Accipitrine birds, whilst in many cases there is 

 no difference in size between the sexes. 



Owls are noctm'nal or crepuscular and carnivorous and live for 



