k\ 



Order I. ACCIPITRES. 



Family III. Stiugidje. 



The fourth Subfamily, 



STRIGIN^E, or Owls, 



have the head smooth, with the facial disk very large, subtriangular, and complete. 



Strix Linn.* 



Bill long, mostly concealed at the base by the projecting plumes ; the sides much compressed, and 

 the culmen arched to the tip, which is acute and hooked ; the nostrils large, partly covered by a 

 membrane, with the opening oval, and slightly hidden by the hairs. Wings very long, with the second 

 quill the longest. Tail short and generally even. Tarsi much longer than the middle toe, slender, and 

 covered with short soft plumes. Toes long, and covered with scattered hairs ; the lateral ones unequal, 

 the outer much shorter than the inner ; the hind toe short and thick : the claws long, curved, and acute. 



These birds inhabit the world generally. Their habits are strictly nocturnal ; the softness of their plumage and the 

 peculiar form of their quills give them a buoyant and noiseless flight, which enables them to steal upon their prey 

 unsuspected. It consists of mice and other small quadrupeds, which they swallow whole. The hairs, bones, and other 

 indigestible parts, are ejected in oval pellets by the mouth. Some species live on crustaceous animals. The nests are 

 formed in old towers, tops of churches, the thatch of barns, and in the hollows of trees. The females lay from three to 

 five eggs. 



1. S. flammea Linn. Pl.enl. 440., Gould, B. of Eur. pi. 36. 



2. S. pratincola Pr. Bonap. — Strix flammea Wils. Amer. Orn. 

 pi. 50. f. 2. ; S. americana Aud. B. of Amer. pi. 171. 



3. S. personata Vigors. Proc. Z. S. 1831. 60. — Strix flammea 

 Vigors S; Horsf. ; S. delicatula Gould, Proc. Z. S. 1836. 140. 



4. S. longimembris Jerd. Journ. A. S. B. 1839. 86. 



5. S. javanica (Gmel.). 



6. S. capensis A. Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. n. s. 1836., 111. S. 

 Afr. Zo'ol. pi. 45. 



7. S. poensis Fras. Proc. Z. S. 1842. 187. 



8. S. castanops Gould, Proc. Z. S. 1836. 140. 



9. S. cyclops Gould, Proc. Z. S. 1836. 140. 



10. S. punctatissima G. R. Gray, Voy. of Beagle, Birds, p. 34. 

 pi. 4. 



11. S. leucomanna Eversm. Isis, 1839. 70. 



12. S. perlata Licht. Cat. Dupl. Berl. Mus. p. 59. — Strix fur- 

 cata Temm. P\, col. 432. ? 



Phodilus I. Geojfr.-f 



Bill moderate, partly concealed by the projecting plumes ; the culmen much arched to the tip, which 

 is hooked and acute, and the sides compressed ; the nostrils basal, lateral, with the opening oval. Wings 

 long and rounded, with the fourth, fifth, and sixth quills nearly equal and longest. Tail short and 

 rounded. Tarsi longer than the middle toe, and thickly clothed with plumes. Toes long ; lateral ones 



* Established by Linnaeus in 1735 {Systema Naturee). 



t Established by Isidore Geoffroy in the Ann. des Sci. Nat. xxi. p. 201. 



