676 OWL 



quite backwards. Many forms have the legs and toes thickly 

 clothed to the very claws ; others have the toes, and even the tarsi, 

 bare, or only sparsely beset by bristles. Among the bare-legged Owls 

 those of the Indian genus Ketupa are conspicuous, and this feature is 

 usually correlated with their fish -catching habits ; but certainly 

 other Owls that are not known to catch fish present much the same 

 character. 



From the multitude of Owls there is only room here to make 

 further mention of a few of the more interesting. First must be 

 noticed the Tawny Owl the Strix stridula of Linnaeus, the type, as 

 has been above said, of the whole group, and especially of the 

 Strigine section as here understood. This is the Syrnium aluco of 

 many authors, the Chat-huant of the French, the species whose 

 tremulous hooting "tu-whit, to -who," has been celebrated by 

 Shakespear, and, as well as the plaintive call, "keewick," of the 

 young after leaving the nest, will be familiar sounds to many readers, 

 for the bird is very generally distributed throughout most parts 

 of Europe, extending its range through Asia Minor to Palestine, and 

 also to Barbary but not belonging to the Ethiopian Region or to 

 the eastern half of the Palaearctic area. It is the largest of the 

 Owls indigenous to Britain, and chiefly affects woodlands, only occa- 

 sionally choosing any other place for its nest than a hollow tree. 

 Its food consists almost entirely of small mammals, especially rats ; 

 but, though on this account most deserving of protection from all 

 classes, it is subject to the stupid persecution of the ignorant, and 

 is rapidly declining in numbers. 1 Its nearest allies in North 

 America are the S. nebulosa, with some kindred forms, one of which, 

 the S. occidentalis of California and Arizona, is here figured ; but 

 none of them seems to have the " merry note " that is uttered by 

 the European species. Common to the most northerly forest-tracts 

 of both continents (for, though a slight difference of coloration is 

 observable between American examples and those from the Old 

 World, it is impossible to consider it specific) is the much larger 

 S. cinerea or S. lapponica, whose small eyes, with their yellow iris, 

 iron-grey plumage, delicately mottled with dark brown, and the con- 

 centric circles of its facial disks make it one of the most remarkable 

 of the group. Then may be noticed the genus Bubo containing 

 several species which from their size are usually known as Eagle-Owls. 

 Here the Nearctic and PalaBarctic forms are sufficiently distinct 



1 All Owls have the habit of casting up the indigestible parts of the food 

 swallowed in the form of pellets, which may often be found in abundance under 

 the Owl-roost, and reveal without any manner of doubt what the prey of the bird 

 has been. The result in nearly every case shews the enormous service they 

 render to man in destroying rats and mice. Details of many observations to this 

 effect are recorded in the Bericht uber die XIV. Versammlung der Deutschen 

 Ornithologen-Gesellschaft (pp. 30-34). 



