v^lll PREFACE. 



b. Inauriculatce, (= Strix, Linn.). 



Type of JVyctea, Stephens, 1826. 6. nyctea. 

 Type of 'Syrnhtm, Savigny, 1809. 7. aluco. 



8. flammea. 



9. stridula = No. 7. 



Type of&vma, Dumeril, 1806. { ^^ 

 Type of Glaucidium^Qi^ 1826. 12. passerina 



Hence we see that, by the gradual elimination of the Linnean 

 species, as one after another becomes fixed as the type 

 of some genus or other, Strix otus, Linn., remains the type of 

 the genus Asto t Briss., and Strix flammea is the sole survivor of 

 the genus Strix as instituted by Linnaeus, and becomes its type. 



Besides this, Savigny, when he split up the Owls in 1809, 

 and made several new genera, restricted the Barn Owl for his 

 genus Strix (ex Linn.), as he had every right to do. 



Descriptions. In the accounts of the different plumages of 

 our British Birds, I have, in nearly every case, described actual 

 specimens in the British Museum, and my descriptions through- 

 out the work have been mostly original. Some of my critics 

 have complained that these descriptions are unnecessarily long, 

 especially in the case of foreign birds which have occurred but a 

 few times in Great Britain. To that I would reply, that no one 

 knows what is going to happen, and these detailed descriptions 

 may one day be found useful in determining foreign visitors 

 to our shores ; and secondly, by the many hundreds of earnest 

 students, who may be unknown to fame, but who are neverthe- 

 less doing excellent work in many parts of the country, these 

 descriptions are studied, as I have been informed by many of 

 my correspondents. I have tried to condense into this "Hand- 

 book" only such descriptions of plumage as will be useful 

 to students, to whom the large works, in which such details 

 appear, are often inaccessible. In many instances I have 



