186 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Genus BUBO. 



The Eagle Owls were first separated from the genus Strix in 1760 by 

 Brisson, who associated them with the other horned Owls in a somewhat 

 heterogeneous group, to which he gave the generic name of Asio. In 

 1767 they were temporarily dissociated from the Scops Eared Owls by 

 Gerini, and placed in the genus Bubo; but in 1806 Dumeril reunited them 

 with their smaller relations, retaining the name of Bubo for the composite 

 genus. In 1810 Savigny finally separated them from the Scops Eared 

 Owls ; and in 1817 Cuvier, in his ' Regne Animal/ p. 331, restricted the 

 genus to its present limits, but without indicating any type. As Bubo 

 maximus is the Strix bubo of Linnaeus and the Asio bubo of Brisson, it 

 must, of course, be considered the type of the restricted genus. 



The Eagle Owls are not really distinct from Scops, the only generic 

 distinction being difference of size, none of them measuring less than a 

 foot in length of wing. They are furnished with ear-tufts. The tarsi are 

 always feathered ; but in some species the toes are almost naked. They 

 belong to the group of Owls in which the ear is small, about the size of 

 the eye, and not furnished with an operculum. The underparts are both 

 transversely barred and longitudinally streaked ; but the bars are almost 

 obsolete, and the streaks very conspicuous a character which distinguishes 

 them from the Hawk Owls. In their habits they do not differ materially 

 from the other Owls. 



The Eagle Owls are found almost all over the world, with the exception 

 of Australia and the Pacific Islands. There are about twenty species. 

 Only two, very nearly allied ones, are found in Europe ; and of these 

 only one visits our islands. 



