76 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Range outside the British Islands. A well-known inhabitant ofj 

 the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, ranging westwards through^ 

 Baluchistan to Persia, and even to Asia Minor. 



Habits Similar to those of Coradas garrulus. 



THE OWLS. ORDER STRIGES. 



The Owls have generally been considered to be Birds cf| 

 Prey, and to form a part of the Order Acdpitriforme^ 

 which embraces all the Vultures, Hawks, and Ospreys. Thai 

 Owls, however, possess so many peculiar characteristics, ths.tt 

 by many modern zoologists they are considered to be very dis-| 

 tinct from Hawks, and there is a good deal to be said as t3J 

 their separation from that group of birds, but I cannot adm tfo 

 the wide divorce which Dr. Gadow seeks to introduce betwee it* 

 the Acdpitres and the Striges. According to the paper pul>| 

 lished by the last-named gentleman (in the " Proceedings "I 

 of the Zoological Society for 1892, pp. 229-256) on the "Classi-i 

 fication of Birds," the Owls come under his Order Coradiformesl 

 following the Parrots (Psittad\ but also included in the samel 

 Order as the Swifts, Trogons, and the bulk of Picarian Birds.! 

 That the Parrots should come between the Picarians and thel 

 Owls seems to be a very feasible proposition, for there arel 

 many Parrots which have Owl-like propensities, and even a] 

 Strigine appearance ; but, when all things are considered, the! 

 Owls must be reckoned more Birds of Prey than anything else,! 

 and even Dr. Gadow has to admit that the bill and feet in hi a 

 Sub-order Striges are " raptorial " and nothing else, even if hisj 

 other characters are more or less Picarian. 



It must also be remembered that the Owls are related to the(l 

 Acdpitres through the Pandiones^ i.e., the Ospreys, or Fishing-3 

 Eagles, which, like the Owls, have the fourth toe reversible,'! 

 while the proportions of the tibio-tarsus and the tarso-met'i4| 

 tarsal bones are exactly the same as those of the Owls. Among! 

 the latter, also, there are several species of Fishing-Owls which, J 

 have bare feet, and the soles covered with spicules like thel 

 Ospreys. However much, therefore, we may regard the Ow's 



