80 



BIRD GALLERY. 



in plumage. Other forms represented are the Madagascar Kestrel 

 (Dissodectes zoniventris] (961), the Australian Quail-Hawk (Hieracidea 

 berigora] (963), and the Bush-Hawk (Harpa australis] (964). 



Family III. PANDIONID.E. OSPREYS. 



[Case 53.] The last family includes the Ospreys and Fishing-Eagles, which occupy 

 a somewhat intermediate position between the Hawks and Owls. They 

 resemble the latter in possessing a reversible outer toe, which can be 

 turned backwards or forwards at will, and the soles of the feet are pro- 

 vided with spicules to enable them to hold the fish on which they 

 prey. The Osprey or Fish-Hawk (Pandion haliaetus) (965) is a cosmo- 

 politan species, and though now a very rare bird in Great Britain, 

 it still breeds in one or two places in the north of Scotland, where it is 

 carefully protected. The other allied genus, Polioaetus, includes three 

 species of Fishing-Eagles inhabiting the Indo-Malayan region. The 

 Grey-headed form (P. ichthyactus} (966) haunts rivers and its food 

 consists almost entirely of fisli. 



Order XXIII. STRIGIFORMES. OWLS. 



[Case 54.] The Owls form a well-marked group of Birds of Prey and are mostly 

 nocturnal in their habits. They are easily distinguished from all the 

 Hawks except the Harriers, by the facial disc surrounded by a ring of 

 short crisp feathers and by the absence of the cere or naked wax-like 

 skin at the base of the bill seen in almost all the true Accipitres. The 

 large eyes are directed obliquely forwards and the upper eyelid shuts 

 over the eye, and not the lower as in birds generally. The external 

 opening of the ear is large and often extremely complicated in structure, 

 while in some genera the right and left openings are asymmetrical. The 

 outer and fourth toe is reversible at will, enabling the Owls to perch 

 with either one or two toes behind. The eggs are oval in shape and 

 white in colour, and vary in number from two to ten, the larger species 

 as a rule laying fewer eggs than the smaller forms. The nesting site is 

 very varied ; some breeding in holes in trees or in deserted birds' nests, 

 while others prefer the ground, and Speotyto, the American Burrowing- 

 Owl, uses the burrows of prairie-dogs and other small mammals. Many 

 species are dimorphic, that is to say have two phases of coloration, a 

 grey and a rufous. Two families are recognised, distinguished by 

 variotfs anatomical differences. 



