STIilGES: NOCTURNAL BIIWS OF FBEY. 



i99 



The^e are tafts „f letintLerK.! leathers visiiitr ever the eyes frcni the forehead, and eommunly 

 called "ear-tufts"; but thev have nothing to do ^vith the ears, and are more appropriately 

 named " pimnicorus," or feather-horns. More reliable characters may be drawn from the 

 structure of the external oar and facial disc, the modifications of which appear to bear directly 

 upon mode of life ; these parts being as a rule most higlily deveh.ped in the more nocturnal 



species ; some po: 



■ints of internal structure have been found eon-espondent. Thus, one group, 

 of which the baru owl, Alum flammeus, is the type, is very distinct in the angular contour and 



■ x* - ''^°'' '' ' • 



Fig. 349. — 



■ Est lllis Strigibus nomen ; sed iioraini- Imjns 

 Causa quod horrenda stridere nocte solent " — 



Ovid, Fi^ti m 109 



" ScreecJi-nwJs thev 're called, because with dismal cry 

 In darkling night from place to place they fly." 



higli development of the facial disc, pectination of the middle claw, and other characters upon 

 which a family Ahiconidce may be established. Probatly the rest of the suborder fall in two 

 subdivisions of a single family SMffida?, the essential characters ilf which have already been 

 contrasted with those of Ahiconidip. 



The nearest relatives of the Striges, outside their own order, are the Capriimdgi — the 

 relationship heing really very close through the genus Sfeatornis. As is well known, owls are 

 eminently nocturnal birds ; but to this rule there are numerous striking exceptions- This 

 general habit is correspondent to the modification of the eyes, the size and structure of which 



