398 CORACIIFORMES CHAP. 
them in close proximity to the Nightjar alhance (Caprimulg‘), 
the members of which they certainly resemble in their soft 
plumage, large eyes, and crepuscular tendencies. 
Fam. VIL. Strigidae.—This, which contains all the Owls, may 
be divided into two Sub-famihes, (1) Striginae and (2) Buboninae.* 
In the former, or Screech-Owl section,” the sternum has its broad 
keel joined to the furcula, and exhibits no notches behind; in 
the latter, containing the remaining genera, the clavicles do not 
always form a furcula, nor do they meet the sternum, which 
shews one or two pairs of projections posteriorly. In this section, 
moreover, there is a bony loop bridging the channel in the meta- 
tarsus which contains the common extensor tendon of the toes, 
as 1s the case in the Osprey. Pterylography would lead to the 
same subdivisions. Between the two groups lie Photodilus of 
the Indian Region, now referred to the Buboninae, and Heliodilus 
of Madagascar, which is classed with the Striginae. 
The head is large; the neck short and thin; the bill moderate 
in length, but stout, with a sharp hook at the tip; the culmen is 
usually curved, but is straighter in Strix, while the basal cere is 
more or less covered by feathering, especially in Vyctea. The short, 
strong metatarsi—somewhat longer in Speotyto and Sceloglauxz— 
are flattened in front and covered with small scales. They are 
usually feathered, though in Aetupa and Scotopelia they are all 
but bare, while they are partly so in Scops gymnopus and S. nudipes, 
the two former having the toes provided with spicules below, as 
in Pandion. Many forms have the plumage extended as a thick 
covering of soft feathers or bristles to the claws, which are normally 
long, sharp, and curved, that of the middle toe having a serrated 
margin in the Striginae. The digits are padded beneath, and the 
fourth of them is reversible at will, enabling Owls to perch with 
either one or two toes behind. The wings are long, or fairly so, 
very broad, and more or less rounded, Scops and Striz being in- 
stances of greater length, Bubo, Sceloglaux, Speotyto, and Photo- 
dilus of shortness ; the primaries number eleven and the secondaries 
from eleven to eighteen. The tail of twelve rectrices is generally 
short and somewhat rounded, though longer in Surnia. The large 
1 Cf. Milne-Edwards, Oiseaux fossiles de la France, ii. 1871, pp. 474-492; and 
for further details A. Newton, Dict. Birds, 1894, pp. 671-674. 
2 Brisson, who divided the genus Strix, made the Tawny Owl its type; if this 
be accepted, Striginae must become Alucinae and Buboninae become Striginae. 
