30 SORTATION. 



In the Owls the head is large, the eyes are in front, and the face is 

 round, although in some the " facial disk," 

 as it is called, is not as complete as in 

 others. Many of the Owls, too, have 

 bristles on the feet instead of feathers ; 

 but surely we are safe in assuming that 

 anyone likely to take an interest in birds 

 will know an Owl when he sees one ; and 

 a lengthy description of the Strigidae would 

 here be waste of space. The bird we are 

 seeking to identify is certainly not an Owl. 

 Then, if it be a bird of prey at all, it 

 must belong to either the VulturidsE or the 

 Falconida;. The chances are very much 

 against its being a Vulture, for the very 

 good reason that only three Vultures have been shot on British 

 ground within the memory of man. Vultures are but British birds 

 by courtesy, like a good many others. It is interesting to know that 

 our country has been visited by representatives of that singularly 

 uninteresting family ; and that is about all that need be said. The 

 Vultures have bald or downy crowns ; and, consequently, if your bird 

 of prey has feathers on its crown, you may rest assured that it is not 

 one of the Vulturidje. 



We are thus left with the Falconidas, comprising the true Falcons 

 who capture their prey in the air, the Hawks who capture it on or 

 near the ground, the Harriers, Kites, and Buzzards, who capture it 

 on the ground, and that bird by itself, the Osprey, which captures it 

 from the water. Our bird, however, is not a bird of prey at all ; its 

 claws and beak and the absence of the " cere," or bare skin at the 

 base of the beak, show that clearly enough. It is not an Owl, it is not 

 a Vulture, and it is not a Falcon in any sense of the word. 



We have got rid of the Raptores by their claws and beak ; in the 

 identification of the rest it will be found that we can go a very long 

 way on their feet. The feet will not take us all the way, but we shall 

 considerably lighten our load by using them as long as they last. 

 Now, the normal number of a bird's toes is four — three in front and one 

 behind — but in a large number of cases the hind toe is small, and in 

 others it has become obsolete. We can thus start our second group 

 with two main divisions : — 



1. Three toes. 



2. Four toes. 



Let us take the three-toed birds first. These we can sort at once 

 into those that are web-footed, and those that are not ; but as it will 

 be found that the web extends farther along the toes in some than in 

 others, we can further set up four minor divisions : — 



1. United as far as the claws. 



2. United as far as the second joint. 



3. United at base. 



4. Divided throughout. 



If the bird's foot be found to consist of three toes only, and these 



