THE TRUE OWLS. 77 



as forming a separate Order, these features of relationship with 

 the Ospreys must never be overlooked. 



Owls are distinguished, as a rule, by their soft and downy 

 plumage and by their large and rounded heads, with the eyes 

 directed forwards, not laterally placed as in Eagles and Hawks. 

 The face is generally, but not always, surrounded by a disk of 

 stiffened feathers, a feature only seen in the Harriers and 

 Harrier-Hawks among the Acripitres. 



As the Owls are mostly nocturnal in their habits, the 

 plumage is very soft and the flight noiseless, so that the birds 

 are able to steal upon their prey without being heard ; and the 

 wings are very broad, with soft webs to the quills, which pro- 

 duce no sound when the bird is flying. The young birds, 

 when hatched, are covered with down, generally white, but in 

 some species black ; they are fed in the nest by the parent 

 birds for a considerable time. 



The Owls may be divided into two Families, of which the 

 Barn-Owl is the type of the Strigidce, while all the rest of the 

 Owls belong to the Bubonidce, of which the Eagle-Owl may be 

 taken as the type. 



THE TRUE OWLS. FAMILY BUBONID/E. 



In these birds the hinder margin of the breast-bone, or 

 sternum, has two or more clefts or fissures; the furcula, or 

 merry-thought, is free, and not attached to the keel of the 

 sternum. There is no serration on the inner margin of the 

 claw of the middle toe, and the latter is longer than the inner 

 toe. 



There are two Sub-families of the True Owls, the Bubcnince, 

 which have the facial disk imperfect and less developed above 

 the eye, and the Syrniince, in which the disk is perfect. 



In the Bubonincz are included all the Fishing-Owls (Ketupa\ 

 the Eagle-Owls (Bubo), the Tufted Owls (Scops), the Snowy 

 Owls (Nyctea), the Hawk-Owls (Surma), the Little Owls 

 (Carine), the Burro wing-Owls (Speotyto), and the Pigmy Owls 

 (Glandditim), besides some other tropical genera, of which we 

 have no representatives in Europe, 



