eon 
XVIII. Monogruph of the Strigide. By Dr. J. J. Kaur, Director of the Museum 
at Darmstadt ; Corresponding Member. 
Read June 8, 1852. 
Subfamily I. SURNIINAE, Kaup. Day-Owls. 
I. Glaucidiwm. U1. Nyctale. III. Athene. IV. Surnia. V. Ieraglauz. 
Diagnosis.—They have the handsomest and roundest skull, with large brain, high 
rounded front, small pneumacity. The greater number of this genus have a little ear- 
orifice without operculum ; the feather-wreath round the ear is mostly not so distinct 
as in the Night-Owls. No genus in this subfamily has feather-horns, or a dentellated 
claw on the middle toe, as Striz. Most birds of this genus are Day- or Twilight- 
Owls, except Nyctale, which is in this respect a true Night-Owl. 
Genus I. Guiaucipium!, Bove. 
a. Glaucidium. b. 
2? c. Microglaux. d. 
2 e. Temoptyna. 
Diagn.—The nostrils mostly in the middle of the swollen pea-shaped cera. The 
first wing-feather shorter than the tenth wing-feather. Wings short, only reaching to 
the upper coverts of the long and variegated tail. We find in this genus the smallest 
of all the Owls; their food is insects. 
Description.—The yellow bill curves rapidly from the cera. The lower jaw is on the 
end and sides emarginated by four teeth-like points ; the short wings only reach to the 
upper tail-coverts; the webs of the wing-feathers are small, the first to the fourth 
with emarginations ; the first wing-feather short and dentellated. Tarsi and toes very 
well developed. The cross-banded or spotted tail as long as the body. The handsome 
skull shows a thorn-shaped prominence on the front part of the eye-margin (Plate LVI. 
fig.1); and the zygoma has on its posterior part (fig. 2) a leaf-like prominence, of 
which all the true Strigine are destitute, and which is in other Surnine not so well deve- 
loped. All the species have a white, black and rufous spotted collar, which reminds us 
of the American Tinnunculi. Up to the present time we know only of three subgenera. 
Subgenus a. Glaucidium, Boie. 
Diagn.—Nostrils in the middle of the’ pea-shaped cera; inner webs of the wing- 
feathers broader, with emarginations more towards the end, and a spotted or unicolor 
plumage. All the species are found in the southern parts of America. 
1 Boie gives this name in the ‘Isis’ to Strix nana et passerina. The latter species belongs to the genus Sur- 
nia, with very different cera and nostrils. G. R. Gray and Bonaparte erroneously give this name to passerina. 
2G 2 
