OWLS. 331 



6. Noetua. Clieveches. No tufts nor conch; aperture 

 of the ear oval, scarcely larger than in other birds ; disks 

 still smaller and less complete than in the last genus. 

 Ex.: St. funerea; Str. nyctea; Str. Tengmalmi ; St. pas- 

 serina. Some Cheveches have the feet bare, as Str. 

 cayennensis, Gmel. 



7, Scops. Scops. No conch ; disk imperfect ; feet 

 bare ; tufts like those of the genus Bubo. Ex. : Str. 

 Scops. 



This is obviously a very confused and unsatisfactory 

 arrangement. The characters given to the ear in seve- 

 ral of the genera are not merely imperfect, but abso- 

 lutely incorrect, as will be seen by referring first to my 

 figures and descriptions in the following pages, and 

 then to the objects themselves, as opportunity may oc- 

 cur ; for it is not to " the prince of naturalists," nor the 

 " chief of anatomists," but to Le Grand Due, Les Hi- 

 boux, and all the Chouettes and Cheveches themselves 

 that we must go for information. If Otus and Ulula 

 have no other differences than the presence or absence 

 of tufts on the head, they ought to be united. But 

 there is no end to remarks of this kind, nor to the in- 

 consistencies which give rise to them. 



M. Isidore GeofFroy St Hilaire proposes the follow- 

 ing method in Annales des Sciences Naturelles, vol. xxi. 

 p. 194. He divides the Linnean genus Strix into t\yc 

 sections. 



Section I. — Disks imperfect. 



1 . Noetua. Cheveches. Scarcely any traces of disks ; 

 no tufts ; all the upper part of the head covered with 

 feathers directed backwards, and similar to those of the 



