540 CLASS XVI. 



Add genus Peltops WAGL., which differs by the bill being less 

 broad, the toes less concrete, the tail forked. 



Sp. EurylaimuB Blainvillii GABNOT, Vay. Coq., Ois. PI. 19, fig. 2 ; from New 

 Guinea. 



ORDER VI. Raptatores. 



Bill hooked, compressed, cerigerous at the base, with nostrils 

 open. Feet strong, with toes padded beneath, scabrous, with the 

 three anterior connected at the base only or entirely cloven, with 

 hallux large, posterior. Claws elongate, strong, curved. Primaries 

 ten. Wing-coverts large. Tail with twelve or fourteen feathers. 



Section I. Aves rapaces nocturnce. 



Bill short, covered at the base by recumbent setae. Nostrils 

 placed at the anterior margin of cere. Head large, densely plumed, 

 with eyes large, turned forward. Tarsi reticulate with scales, 

 covered with dense plumes (often the toes also woolly) ; outer toe 

 shorter than inner (yet with five phalanges), versatile. (First quill- 

 feathers ciliated externally, with barbs separate at the point, 

 recurved.) 



Family LIT. Strigidce. (Characters of the section those also 

 of the single family.) 



The nocturnal birds of prey or owls form a very natural family, 

 with LINNAEUS a single genus, Strix, in which he recognised only 

 12 species, which, however, are now multiplied more than tenfold. 

 The owls seek their prey mostly by twilight, and also by night in 

 moon-light; it consists of small mammals, of birds, which they 

 mostly surprise sleeping, and also of large insects; some species eat 

 frogs also. The principal food, however, of the owls consists of the 

 various species of the mouse genus. The females are commonly 

 somewhat larger than the males; in other respects there is little 

 difference between the two sexes. They lay only few eggs (from 

 2 to 5), of a white colour. 



The feathers of the owls are very soft, whence these birds fly 

 without noise. The anterior part of the head is covered with 

 plumules with loose branches (they are sometimes even hairy) ; they 

 surround the eyes radiately, and thus form on the head a kind of 

 veil (discus) more or less complete; round this disc lies a wreath 



