STRIG1. O WLS. 253 



a few square miles in two or three isolated localities. The ranks of the few survivors are 

 being rapidly thinned, for, in Florida, their enemies are legion; bird catchers trap them by 

 hundreds for the northern market, sportsmen shoot them for food, planters kill them be- 

 cause they eat their fruit, and tourists slaughter them simply because they present a fa- 

 vorable mark. Thus a species, the history of which is still incomplete, for we know noth- 

 ing definite of the breeding habits of the Parokeet or of its younger stages, is being surely 

 exterminated, yet ornithologists and others who would prevent this calamity, can but look 

 upon the work of destruction, powerless, under the present state of affairs, to stay the ruth- 

 less hand of the destroyer. 



OBDER IX. STRIGI. OWLS. 



Sternum, usually with four marginal indentations. Keel, very low. Manubrium, want- 

 ing. Head, quite large. 



The eyes are usually large, directed forward, and, in a great number of the species, 

 constructed for seeing in the twilight or even at night. The bill is strong and curved but 

 is partly concealed in bristly feathers. There is a more or less perfect disk of radiating 

 feathers surrounding the face. The cavity of the ear is large. The tarsus is usually short 

 and is nearly always feathered to the toes. The wings are long and well formed. The 

 plumage is soft and lax, each feather, even of the wings, being tipped with downy fila- 

 ments which insures noiseless flight, enabling the birds to take their prey with great cer- 

 tainty. The sternum is quite strong, usually with four marginal indentations, the two 

 inner, shallower than the outer. The keel is low, not exceeding one half the width of the 

 straight sternum in height. The coracoids are short, strong, and of medium length, and 

 are often set on at a wide angle but the furcula is weak, not arched, and is provided with 

 a terminal expansion. This sternal structure indicates that, although the birds may be 

 able to fly quite well in a straight line, they are incapable of making any sudden turn or 

 performing any rapid aerial evolutions.- The oesophagus is wide but without any dilatation 

 or crop. The proventriculus is well developed. The stomach is large but not muscular. 

 Although the fold of the duodenum is long, yet the pancreas is generally small. There 

 are two coeca of quite a large size with the blind ends dilated. The females are larger 

 than the males. 



FAMILY I. STRIGID^E. THE DISKED OWLS. 



Marginal indentations, two, wide but not deep. Tarsus, long. Eyes, small. Facial 

 disk, perfect. 



The marginal indentations are simple, shallow scallops. The size is not very large. 

 The bill is rather long. The tarsi are comparatively long and the feet large. The plum- 

 age is rather light in color and of a peculiar, soft, downy structure, not as observable 

 in other families. 



