﻿334* ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



perching order, its powers of grasping ought to be 

 more than ordinary ; we consequently find that one of 

 the claws is serrated, to give the bird a firmer grasp 

 than it otherwise would have. But this is not all : as 

 the consequence of its analogy to the Insessores, and 

 through them to the Conirostres, we get at the true 

 value of a remark of M. Cuvier, that in this bird, and 

 its allies, the " elongated beak bends only towards the 

 end, while in all the other subgenera it is arched from 

 the point."* Now this is precisely the character which 

 separates the conirostral birds from the dentirostral. 

 We have before expressed our hesitation in admitting 

 the brown or wood owl of Britain, forming the genus 

 Syrnium of Savigny, to be a distinct type. It certainly 

 differs in its ears from the barn owl ; but it has not 

 sufficient of the dentirostral form to make us feel sure 

 of its representing that type : the question must there- 

 fore, for the present, be left undecided. Less doubt 

 hangs over the subgenus Otis, where the egrets first 

 begin to show themselves in the short-eared, and are 

 fully developed in the long-eared owls of Britain ; both, 

 however, by their ears, preserve the typical character. 

 There is a remarkable trait in the natural history of 

 Otis brachyotos, which deserves attention ; for although 

 nocturnal, it seems to be also diurnal, and hunts 

 during the middle of the day t, like the JYyctia Can- 

 dida, just as well as it does in the night. The supe- 

 rior length of its wings, more pointed than any in this 

 genus, would seem to indicate that it is, probably, like 

 Nyctia, a fissirostral type. Next to this group we have 

 the little passerine owls of Europe, forming the new sub- 

 genus Scotophilus ; they are strictly nocturnal, and are 

 known at once by their short, thick, well- covered tarsi 

 and toes, and their small yet complete facial disk. 

 Lastly, come the great species of Scotiaptex, conspicuous 

 by their long cuneated tails and large size. Some of 

 these, as S. cinerea J, are nocturnal ; but — as they pass 



* Griffith's Cuvier, i. p. 74. 



$ Northern Zoology, ii. plate 31. 



f Bewick. 



