Genus Strix, S^-c. 189 



The trachea of the different species of owls so nearly resembles 

 the same part in the falcons, as to make a separate description 

 unnecessary, and the same may be said generally of the oesophagus, 

 stomach, and intestines, as the similarity of food would a|)pear lo 

 require. The contents of the stomach have always been a subject 

 of examination, but their usual food being known, I have but to 

 add, that the short-eared owl (S. Brachyotos) is the only bird of 

 prey in which I ever found the remains of a bat. In the species 

 of the genus Strix, the two cajcal appendages will be found con- 

 siderably developed ; in the barn owl (S. Flammea) as well as in 

 the short-eared owl, they are small at their origin, afterwards di- 

 lated, and each one inch and three-quarters in length. 



I am. Gentlemen, 



Yours, &c. 



William Yaiiri;ll. 

 Ryder Street, Oct. 1826. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATE VI. 



No. 1. Breast bone of the Peregrine Falcon. 



a, the sternum ; b, the keel : 



c, the furcula, d, d, the clavicles ; 



c, scapula broken off. 

 No. 2. Breast bone of a Wood Owl. 



3. Bony ring of a Golden Eagle. 



4. Crystalline leus of the same bird ; 



a, the anterior surface, somewhat less convex than 

 tlic posterior one. 



5. Bony ring of a Snowy Owl. 



6. Crystalline lens of the same bird ; 



a, the anterior surface, also less convex. 



Nos. 3 and 5. These circles seem admirably adapted to afford 

 support to the soft parts of the globe of the eye; the orbits in birds 

 being less perfectly defined, generally, than in most otlwr animals. 



