921 



STRIGID.E. 



STRIQID.E. 



922 



well as in the Short-Eared Owl, they are, he states, small at their 

 origin, afterwards dilated, and each one inch and three-quarters in 

 length. The crop is large, and the stomach or gizzard is considerably 

 muscular notwithstanding the nature of their living prey. The brain 

 is well developed in this family, and the senses of sight, hearing, taste, 

 and smell, especially the two former, are enjoyed in a considerable 

 degree of perfection. Mr. Yarrell observes (loc. cit) that the external 

 form of the bony ring in the Golden Eagle [FALCONUXE] will be found 

 to extend through all the species of every genus of British birds, except 

 the Owls, in all of which it is concave. The bony ring of the Snowy 

 Owl has fifteen plates forming the circle, and they are considerably 

 lengthened. The transparent cornea being placed as it were at the 

 end of a tube is thus, he remarks, carried forward beyond the inter- 

 vention of the loose and downy feathers of the head. It is this 



1, bony ring of a Snowy Owl ; 2, crystalline lens of the same bird: a, the 

 ulterior urfce, less convex than the posterior one. (Yarrell.) 



position of the eyes, observes the same author, giving a particular 

 fulness and breadth to the head, which has gained for the Owl the 

 intellectual character universally awarded to it. The concave facial 

 disc of feathers with which they are surrounded materially aids vision 

 by concentrating the rays of light. 



Head of Barn-Owl (Strix flammed). 



The sense of hearing appears to be very acute in the Strigidce: they 

 not only look, but listen for prey. 



Head of a young White or Barn-Owl (Strix flammta). 



The down preiued backward!) and forwards, to expose the auditory passage 

 and opcrculum. a, cranium ; b, bill perforated by the nostril ; e, neck ; d, 

 eye ; , termination of external skin surrounding the orifice of the ear ; /, ante, 

 rior flap or opcrcular fold of the ear ; y, part of the tympanic or quadrate bone ; 

 It, mraibruu tympani. (' Cat. Mus. Coll. Cbir.,' vol. iii.) 



Smell, taste, and touch appenr to be developed nearly as they a-re 

 in the Falconidte. Preparations of the structure of the Strigidte are 

 to be seen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of 

 England in London. 



Foot of White or Barn-Owl (Strix flammea). 



'Zoologists are generally agreed in the position assigned to the Owls. 

 In Belon and Gesner we find them next to the diurnal birds of prey. 

 In the work of the former the Cuckoo indeed intervenes ; but the 

 external similitude between that species and the birds of prey accounts 

 for the intervention. In Gesuer the Shrikes come between the diurnal 

 and nocturnal predacious birds. 



Willughby divides the birds of prey into the diurnal and the noc- 

 turnal, placing in the last subdivision of the former the Butcher-Birds 

 and Birds of Paradise. The latter he separates into two sections 



1, the horned, or eared ; 2, those without horns. 



Brissou places the Owls in the second section of his third order, 

 which consists of birds with a short and hooked bill. This second 

 section is defined as comprising species the base of whose bill is 

 covered with feathers directed forwards. 



The geuus Strix stands among the Accipitres in the 'Systema 

 Natuite,' between the genera falco and Lanius, which last concludes 

 that order of Linnaeus. 



Latham places the Owls at the end of the birds of prey, and so do 

 Lacepede, Duni<5ril, and Meyer. Illiger, on the contrary, makes the 

 Nocturni the first of his order Raptatores. Cuvier makes them follow 

 the Diurnes ; and they immediately precede the Passereaux, among 

 which last the Butchcr-Birds hold the first place in the first family, 

 Dentirottrei. Vieillot arranges the Owls with the family name of 

 jEgolians, under his second tribe (ffocturni) of his first order 

 Accipitret. 



M. Temminck places them at the end of his first order (Rapaces) ; 

 and, in his ' Manuel ' of European birds, divides the family of Owls 

 into two divisions 1st, the Chouettes, properly so called ; 2nd, the 

 Chouettes Hibous. 



The first division, or Chats-Huants, he subdivides into two sections, 

 placing in the first section the Accipitrino Owls, or those which see 

 well r>nd pursue their prey by day; and in the second section the 

 Nocturnal Owls, which hunt in no light stronger than twilight or 

 moonlight, and conceal themselves during the day. 



In the first section of the first division M. Temminck places the 

 following species : Strix Lapponica, S. nyctea, 8. Uralensii, and S. 

 funerea. 



In the second we fiud & nebuloaa, S, Aluco, S. flammea, S. passerina, 

 S. Tengmalmi, and S. Acadica. 



Under the second division, Chouettes Hibons, distinguished by two 

 tufts of feathers situated more or less forward upon the front, and 

 capable of erection (whence their English appellation of Horned Owls), 

 he arranges Strix brachyotut, S. Bubo, S. Ottta, and S. Scops. 



Mr. Vigors, who makes his first order (Raptorea) consist of the 

 families Vulturidcc, Falconidce, Striyidce, and Gypogeranidie, says, that 

 if we search for the counectiou between the Falcimidie and the 

 Ktriyidfe, we shall not fail to find their affinity apparent, as is usual, 

 in the less typical part of the two groups. 



Mr. Swainson states that the divisions of the Strigidce made by 

 modem ornithologists ca.n all be referred to one or other of the fol- 

 lowing groups : I, Typical Owls, having the facial disc very large aud 

 complete, with large ears and (in general) an ample operculum ; 



2, Horned Owls, furnished with egrets and a large facial disc, but 

 having only small or moderate-sized ears ; aud 3, Diurnal or Hawk- 

 Owls, where the conch of the ear is comparatively small, and is 

 destitute of an operculum : the head has no egrets, and the facial 

 disc is imperfect or obsolete. The first he considers the typical group ; 

 the second the subtypical ; and the third the aberrant group. 



The following table gives Mr. Swainsou's arrangement of the entire 

 family : 



