fiO ORXITHOLOGT AXD OOLOGT. 



FAiiTLT STRIGID.E. The Owls. 



Form usually sliort and heavy, with the head disproportionately large, and fre- 

 quently furnished with erectUe tufts of feathers, resembling the ears of quatlrupeds. 

 General organization adapted to vigorous and noiseless, but not rapid, flight, and to 

 the capture of animals in the morning and evening twilight. 



Eyes usually very large, directed forwards, and, in the greater number of species, 

 formed for seeing by twilight or in the night; bUl rather strong, curved, nearly 

 concealed by projecting, bristle-like feathers: wings generally long, outer edges of 

 primary quills fringed ; legs generally rather short, and in all S{)ecies, except in one 

 Asiatic genus {Ketiijia), more or less feathered, generally densely; cavity of the ear 

 very large: face encircled by a more or less perfect disc of short, rigid feathers, 

 which, with the large eyes, gives to those birds an entirely peculiar and frequently 

 catlike expression. Female larger than the male. 



Sub-Family BuBOxrs'-E. — The Horned Owls. 



Head l^rj. -^rith erectUe and prominent ear-tufts; eyes large; fecial disc not 

 complete above the eyes and bill; legs, feet, and claws usually very strong. 



BUBO, CrviEK. 



Bubo, CtrvTEE, Eegne Animal, I. 331 (ISir). 



Size large; general form very robust and fwwerfal; head large, with conspicuous 

 ear-tufts : eyes very large ; wings long ; taQ short : legs and toes very strong, densely 

 feathered; claws very strong; bill rather short, strong, curved, covered at base by 

 projecting feathers. 



This genus includes the large Homed Owls, or Cat Owb, as they are sometimes 

 called. These birds are most numerous in Asia and Africa, and there are in all 

 countries about fifteen sj)ecies. 



BUBO YIEGIXIAXUS.— 5on/5)art€. 



The Great Horned Owl. 



Strix Virginiana, Gm. Syst Xat., I. 257 (1788). Bonap. Syn., p. 37. Xutt., I. 

 r2-4. Wilson. Audubon, and others. 



Bvbo articus, Swains. Faun. Bor. Am. Birds, p. 86 (1831). 



DZSCEIPTIOX. 



AduR. — Large and strongly organized : ear-tufts large, erectile ; bill strong, 

 folly curved ; wing rather long ; third quill usually longest ; tail short ; legs and 

 toes robust, and densely covered with short, downy feathers: claws very strong, 

 sharp, curved; variable in pltunage, from nearly white to dark-brown, usually 

 with the upper parts dark-brown, every feather mottled, and with irregular trans- 

 rcTse lines of pale-ashy and reddish-fulvous, the latter being the color of all the 

 nlumage at the bases of the feathers ; ear-tufts dark-brown, nearly black, edged on 



