Bo BIRDS. 
brown predominates above; fawn-coloured underneath; tufts almost 
entirely black*. 
The Turrep Cuovetes, Vail. Afr. xiii. 
Are mere Ducs, whose tufts, more widely separate and placed farther back, 
can scarcely be elevated above a horizontal line. They are found in both 
hemispheres t. 
Nocrua, Savigny. 
Have neither tufts, nor an open nor deeply set conch of the ear; open- 
ing of the ear oval, and hardly any larger than in other birds; the disk of 
fringed feathers is smaller, and less perfect than in the Bubo, Cuv. 
Their relations to the diurnal birds of prey are very evident, even in their 
habits. 
Some of them are remarkable for a long, cuneiform tail, and have the 
toes thickly clothed with feathers; they are the Surnia, Dumer. It ap- 
pears that there exist in all the North some closely allied species or va- 
rieties, but improperly distinguished under the names of Str. funerea, 
hudsonia, uralensis, accipitrina, &c. 
The best known species, Str. nisoria, Wolf.; Enl. 473; Naum. 
42, 2, from the whole north of the globe, is about the size of the 
Sparrowhawk; blackish brown above, with small white spots on the 
head, which form transverse bars on the scapulars; transversely ra- 
diated with brown and white beneath, with ten transverse white lines 
on the tail. It hunts more during the day than the night. 
The species from the Ural mountains, Str. wralensis, Pall. 
Naum. 42, 1, is nearly as large as the Harfang; brown, with white 
spots, above; white, with long brown spots, beneath; five trans- 
verse grey bands on the tail. It also hunts during the day, and is 
sometimes seen in Germany. It is probably the Hybris or Ptynx 
of Aristotle, ]. ix, c. 12. 
The species, called of Acadia, Str. acadica, Naum. 48, f. 1 and 
2; Wils. Am. IV. xxxiv. 1, is also sometimes found there, but it 
belongs equally to the whole north of the globe. It is the smallest 
of the Ulule, and is hardly larger than the common finch. It does 
not fear the light of day; but Vaillant has described one of these 
Surnie from Africa, (Choucou, No. xxxviii,) all white beneath, with 
fourteen or fifteen lines on the tail, and which, according to his ac- 
count, is more nocturnal than the other Ulule. 
There are other Noctuwe which have a short tail and feathered toes. 
The largest, and in fact the largest of all the nocturnal birds without 
tufts, is 
* We cannot admit the Str. scandiaca, L., whose only foundation is a figure of 
Rudbeck, probably taken from a variety of the Grand Duc. Add Str. magellanica, 
Enl. 585, from which the Sér. virginiana, Daud. II. 138, and Wils. Am. VI. 1, 1, or 
i eee Vieill. Am. 19, only differs in being of a more reddish tint.—/Str. lactea, 
- Col. 4. 
} Str. griseata, Sh.; Vaill. Afr. 43, of Guiana.—Str. strepitans, T. Col. 174 and 229 
of Batavia (a). 
Kees (a) Add Str. cinerea, Gin., Bonap. Am, Orn. pl. xxiii, f. 2.—ENe. Ep. 
