116 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



screeches and liootlngs, heard during the dead of the night, may 

 well excuse some little dread of them among ignorant, uncivilized 

 races of mankind. 



Linnseus knew only twelve species of Owls, which he included 

 in one genus. A much larger number of species are now known, 

 and they are divided by most ornithologists into several sub-fami- 

 lies. In the following pages I nearly follow the classification 

 adopted in Horsfield's Catalogue. Gray and Blyth do not adopt 

 the family Asioninos, the members of which are included by Gray 

 in the S'/r7iiince, and by Blyth in the Bubonince ; and I may remark 

 that this vmcertainty of their real position, perhaps, points out the 

 correctness of assigning to them a distinct family rank, as Vigors 

 and Horsfield have done. India possesses representatives of all' 

 these families. 



Sub-Fam. Striginze. 



Head very large, disk complete, occupying the whole face ; 

 ear-conch very large, ears operculated ; wings long ; tail short ; 

 tarsus long, more or less plumed; toes reticulated, with one or two 

 scuta at the root of the claws. 



The typical Owls, of which the common Barn Owl of Europe, 

 Stria; JIammea, is the best known example, are birds of moderate 

 size, with enormous heads, not furnished with egrets, rather small 

 eyes, the irides of which are dark, a complete disk, long wings 

 and legs, and a short tall. They are truly nocturnal in their 

 habits, and have a most unearthly screech ; hence often called 

 Screech-owls. We have three representatives of this family in 

 India, and others arc found all over the world. 



Gen. Strix, Linnaeus (in part). 



Char. — Bill rather long, straightish at base, curved at the tip, 

 somewhat shallow and feeble, with large nasal fossas, and long 

 lunated nostrils ; operculum somewhat tetragonal ; wings reaching 

 beyond the end of the tail, which is short, and nearly even, or 

 slightly rounded; 2nd quill longest, 1st, nearly equal to it, 3rd, 

 only a little shorter ; tarsi long and slender, rather scantily fea- 

 thered; toes moderate, scutellate above, slender, nails sub-equal, 



