158 NEW) YORK< ZOOLOGICAL SOCIEIe 
The Order Strigiformes, or Owls, as we know these birds 
to-day, forms a group very homogeneous, both in structure and 
appearance, and there are few people who can not name an owl 
on sight. They number over two hundred species, or if we include 
geographical races and sub-species, the total is not far from three 
hundred and twenty-five different forms. They vary in length 
from five inches to over two feet, and in character from the tiny, 
insect-eaters to the fierce eagle and horned owls. Their diet em- 
braces almost all forms of terrestrial life, from insects, worms, and 
snails to fish, frogs, lizards, birds, bats, moles, mice, and even 
rabbits, large game birds and hawks. 
In one of the most recent classifications, owls are divided into 
two very unequal Families: 
I. Strigidae, with a single genus, containing the Barn Owl, and 
its twenty or twenty-five geographical species and races. 
Il. Bubonidae, with thirty genera, including all the remaining 
species of owls. 
Owls range over the whole globe, extending far into the polar 
regions and even to the most isolated oceanic islands. 
OWLS AND MANKIND. 
The word owl has its counterpart in many languages ; in Anglo- 
Saxon, Ule; in Swedish, Uggla; in German, Eule; and all of 
these hark back to the Latin Ulula, which was obviously an at- 
tempt to imitate the note of some one of these birds. 
The mystery of their life by night, their weird unearthly hoots 
and screams and their sometimes almost human expression must 
have made owls objects of terror to our primeval forefathers in 
the far distant past. Ever on the lookout for evil omens, these 
birds must have satisfied the most lively imaginations in this 
respect. In many parts of the world, gruesome superstitions con- 
nected with the ow] are still prevalent, as is hinted in some of the 
local German names, “corpse-hen,” “death-owl’” and “sorrowing 
mother.’” On the pampas of Argentina in South America, the 
former wildness of the burrowing owl was due to the superstitious 
fears of the native tribes, who called it “Sister of the Evil Spirit.” 
They killed it on every opportunity, and would never camp, or 
stop, or rest where an evil owl had been seen. With the advent 
of Europeans, this persecution ceased, and the birds soon became 
tame and fearless. With the owl has always been connected the 
idea of femininity. Among widely separated savage tribes it is 
the woman’s bird, the death of which is certain to be followed by 
