34 CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS OF PREY. 



In 1875 Dr. Sharpe put the total number of existing 

 species of Owls at 190. Some of these " species " have since 

 been merged into other species, but nevertheless species- 

 making has gone on at such a great rate since Sharpens 

 Catalogue was issued, that 78 more Owls have been furnished 

 with names. 



The total number at the present time is 268, of which 87 

 appear not to rise above the grade of subspecies, which, 

 according to the American plan, would have trinomial 

 appellations. 



What seem to be only subspecies are in the following List 

 distinguished by being indented and printed in smaller type, 

 but it is confessedly very difficult to draw the line. 



19 genera are recognized by Dr. Sharpe, 41 by "my 

 father — some of them small, some very large. One genus 

 alone, the genus Scops, swollen by recent additions, con- 

 tains 25 species and 37 subspecies, not counting Hetero- 

 scops, Gymnoscops, and Pseudoscops : on the other hand, 

 Ptilopsis, Urrua, Nyctea, Gisella, Heteroglaux, and Helio- 

 dilus at present contain only one species apiece. 



73 Owls appear to be assignable to the Indian region, 58 

 to the Neotropical, 43 to the Australian, 33 to the Ethio- 

 pian, 33 to the Nearctic, 24 to the Palsearetic, 3 to New 

 Zealand, and 1, the Short-eared Owl, Brachyotus accipi- 

 trinus, is nearly cosmopolitan, even if B. galapagoensis and 

 B. portoincensis are admitted to be distinct subspecies. There 

 are only 12 Owls whose distribution makes them assignable 

 to more than one region. The ascendency of India is in 

 part due to the genus Scops, which is largely represented 

 in that Oriental region. On the other hand there are some 

 genera, such as Cicaba, Macabra, Pidsatrix, Pholeoptynx, 

 Gymnoglaux, and Glaucidium, which are almost entirely 

 Neotropical, a region considered by Mr. Sclater to be "pre- 

 eminently well-marked" in all species of birds. This puts 

 the Neotropical Owls second in order of number. The 

 Strigidce are most known in the Indian and Australian regions, 

 but are barely represented in the Nearctic by S. pratincofa, 

 and in the Palaearctic by S. flammea. Dr. Sharpe has given 



