234 STKIGES 



Order IV. STRIGES. 



The Owls, which compose this Order, are a very well-marked and 

 distinct group of birds. They were formerly associated with the 

 Accipitres or Birds of prey, but the resemblances between the two 

 are chiefly superficial, and most modern authors are agreed to 

 consider them as forming a separate Order with distant relationships 

 only to the Parrots as well as to the Accipitres. 



The following are the more obvious external characteristics of 

 the Order : — 



Bill short and hooked, the basal portion forming a cere which 

 is generally concealed by the numerous long stiff bristles surrounding 

 the eye and forming a facial disc ; a tuft of elongated erectile 

 feathers above the eye, usually termed the ear-tufts, often present ; 

 eyes large and forwardly directed ; eleven primaries, twelve 

 rectrices ; no after shaft to the feathers (except Strix) ; plumage soft 

 and fluffy ; outer toe reversible ; nest usually in a hole in a 

 tree ; eggs always white and rounded ; young hatched helpless, but 

 covered with down and cared for by their parents for a considerable 

 period. 



Osteological and anatomical characters are : Palate desmogna- 

 thous ; skull with basipterygoid processes ; oil gland present and 

 naked (except for small tufts of feathers in Strix and Asio) ; spinal 

 feather tract well defined on the neck ; of the five Garrodian thigh 

 muscles only the femoro-caudal is present ; deep flexors of the toes 

 normal, the flexor hallucis supplying the hallux, the flexor perforans 

 digitorum the second, third, and fourth digits. 



The Owls are nocturnal or crepuscular in their habits, shunning 

 as a rule the bright light of the middle of the day; they are 

 carnivorous, feeding on smaller rodents (such as mice) of which 

 they destroy very large numbers ; some of the smaller species 

 feed chiefly on insects ; all Owls throw up the bones and other 

 indigestible parts of their food in the form of pellets, which are 

 often to be found below their roosting places in great abundance, 

 and an examination of which proves the enormous service they 

 do to man and agriculture. 



The Owls may be divided into two families separated by 

 sufficiently distinct characters, the Strigidm containing only two 

 genera, and the Bubonidce containing the majority of Owls. 



