﻿ANALOGIES OP THE OWLS. 



335 



into the hawk owls — others, like the S. uralensis, are 

 diurnal. Both, however, have the large facial disk 

 which gives such a peculiar character to the genus 

 before us. Disposing these types in the order we have 

 noticed them, we shall find they represent the contents 

 of the whole family in the following manner : — 



GENUS STRIX. 



I , 



2. 3. 



I. Gene ra of Orders 



Subgenera. Analogical Characters. the Family. of Birds. 



r^t^c gei8reat ]^- !— 



? AsiO. R.A.PTORES. 



{ N Cg mal diUmal ' WingS ] N y ctla - Natatores. 

 Scotophilus. Size small ; nostrils tumid. Nyctzpetes. Grallatores. 

 Scotiaptex. Size very large j tail long. Surnia. Rasores. 



(270.) The direct analogies of the subgenera to the 

 orders of birds are too obscure, in our present state of 

 knowledge, to claim distinct consideration; and yet, when 

 viewed through the medium of the genera of the family, 

 there is nothing to militate against the above comparison. 

 We have already seen how well the two last columns re- 

 present each other, and that the first and the second have 

 likewise a close analogy, notwithstanding the uncertainty 

 that hangs over one of the subgenera. The truth, how- 

 ever, of the above arrangement of the restricted genus 

 Stria; mainly, if not exclusively, reposes on the different 

 structures possessed by the minor divisions, and by their 

 close affinity to each other. Until greater experience 

 and more profound study force conviction upon the 

 minds of certain zoologists on the subject of analogical 

 resemblances, we would wish them to look upon this, 

 and all other of our groups, without any reference 

 whatever to their analogies, real or supposed. We will 

 relinquish — to fall in with their humour — all the im- 

 portance which we consider belongs to such relations, and 

 rest our arrangement on the mere fact of close affinity : 

 nay, more, we will even admit that a truly natural circle 

 of affinity can be demonstrated, without the aid of calling 



