STRIGIN^E. STRIX. 69 



Several broods are produced annually. It feeds chiefly on 

 mice. Its cry is a harsh shriek, and, like the other species, 

 it hisses when irritated or alarmed. 



Barn Owl. Church Owl. Screech Owl. White Owl. 

 Gillihowter. Howlet. 



Strix flammea, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 133. Strix flammea, 

 Temm. Man. d'Ornith. i. 91 ; iii. 48. Strix flammea, Euro- 

 pean Screech-Owl, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 473. 



It will be very apparent to every person who has examined 

 a considerable number of birds, and observed their habits, 

 that each of the three groups above described forms a very 

 natural family, and that these groups, on being put together, 

 form a very natural order, which is well defined, and does not 

 very obviously blend into any other, although indications of 

 affinity to other groups are everywhere perceptible. Thus, 

 some Owls are very evidently allied to some Goatsuckers, and 

 some Hawks are related to Shrikes. Were we to predeter- 

 mine a typical number, and assume it to be three, we might 

 plausibly enough institute analogies, and discover a ternary 

 disposition throughout. Thus, to constitute another order, 

 the CYPSELIN.E or Swifts would represent the Vultures, the 

 HIRUNDINJE or Swallows might answer for the Hawks, and 

 the CAPRIMULGIN.E or Goatsuckers for the Owls. It does, in 

 fact, appear, that these three groups, although they differ con- 

 siderably in the structure of the digestive organs and skele- 

 ton, form a natural enough order, to which I have elsewhere 

 given the name of VOLITATORES or GLIDERS. Whether there 

 be truth in this or not, these Volitatores may now occupy our 

 attention as well as any other group. Although birds are 

 both masculine and feminine, yet, as the Romans held their 

 Aves to be of the latter gender, I shall, in deference to their 

 better knowledge of their own language, modify the names 

 which I have given to the larger groups, or orders. These 

 Orders may be considered as analogous to the groups called 

 Natural Families by Botanists, and the Families as corres- 

 ponding to their Tribes. 



