OWLS, 245 



have not yet been properly ascertained or charac- 

 terized. The Long-eared Owl is the same in 

 Africa ;* also in North America. The Short- 

 eared Owl is by no means uncommon in Ame- 

 rica, and it is also found in the Indian divi- 

 sion of the world, for we have received speci- 

 mens in every way identical from China. The 

 Tawny Owl, so far as we know, is restricted in 

 its range to Europe, but has its representative, 

 closely allied in habits, in the Barred Owl of 

 North America. The Snowy Owl has the regions 

 of the north for its strongholds, Northern Eu- 

 rope, and America, reaching nearly to the polar 

 latitudes, while it appears also to have been met 

 with, but more sparingly, on the colder frontiers 

 of the Asiatic continent ; in Great Britain, it is 

 very rare. The small species of Owls, or Noctuce, 

 may also be accounted only as visiters having 

 reached the limit of migration, than as really be- 

 longing to the natural fauna of our islands ; and 

 so much confusion yet exists in the characters 

 under which they have been described, that it is 

 scarcely possible to correctly assign the boundaries 

 of their range. 



The systematic arrangement of the owls is a 

 task of great difficulty, both from the general 

 scarcity of facts which are known relating to the 



* Temminck, Manual (TOrnithologie. 



