Norwich Castle Museum. 53 
the basis of a convenient but not very trustworthy 
classification, by which the order has been divided 
into two main groups, the Horned and the Hornless. 
No birds are more persecuted than the British Owls, 
and none are greater friends of man, the small rodents 
which form their chief food being perhaps the worst 
enemies the agriculturalist has to contend with. 
The total number of species and sub-species recognised 
by Mr. Gurney is 268, of which the Museum possesses 
195. 
Case XLIV. 
commences the series of Horned or Eared Owls, the 
-“Fibous” of the French, birds in which the audi- 
tory opening is greatly developed. Almost the first 
species is a well-known British Bird, the Short-eared or 
Woodcock Owl, so-called from its arrival in autumn, 
being generally simultaneous with that of the Wood- 
cock. This bird not many years ago bred in the 
fen-lands of Norfolk, but has now virtually ceased to 
do so; it has the widest geographical range of any 
Owl, being found in all the four quarters of the globe. 
Next in order is the genus Ozws, which also contains 
_a well-known British species, the Long-eared Owl, a 
pied example of which, singular for its rarity, will be 
found in the collection of British Birds. O. madagas- 
cariensis 1s the representative species in Madagascar, as 
its name implies, of which the collection contains five 
specimens. The extensive genus Scogs follows next, 
containing a larger number of species than any other 
genus, all possessing a strong family likeness. Some 
of these are of very diminutive size, and are found dis- 
persed nearly all the world over. First, however, 
must be noticed an offshoot of Scops which has been 
assigned to a genus of its own, Afeteroscops lucie, 
found on the Kina-baiu mountain in North Borneo at 
