NEW SPECIES OF STRIGINE FAMILY. 



171 



the stunted trees growing from rocky declivities. Our birds breed in March, 

 and seem to be confined to the central and northern regions ; for I have never 

 procured one from the southern tract. The young, as soon as fledged, 

 resemble their parents ; and the brood consists invariably of two of them. 



Both the preceding species have eminently medial characters, being 

 alike remote from Strix and Otus, on the one hand, and from Scops and 

 Noctua on the other. 



The bill has neither the length nor straightness of Strix, nor the short- 

 ness and arcuation of Otus* In strength, it is greatly superior to the bill 

 of the former genus — by no means inferior to that of the latter. It resem- 

 bles generally the same organ in our Cultrwiguis, but is shorter somewhat, 

 and the base is more beset with bristles than in Cultrwiguis. 



Another noble bird, Huhiia Nipalensis, presently to be noticed, carries 

 the elongation and straightness of the bill, accompanied by great depth, 

 breadth and power, to a yet further degree. So that we have here a complete 

 new series of Strigine Birds, typifying in their own circle, the Aquiline 

 sub-family of the Falconida ; — or, Cuvier's assertion (followed without 

 question by all other writers) that the genus Strix alone exhibits either 

 elongation or straightness in the bill, is wholly unfounded. 



The tarsi, toes and talons of both the preceding species are framed 

 upon the Otine model ; whereas in our Huhua Nipalensis, there is a diminu- 

 tion of length with proportionate accession of power in the tarsi, analogous 

 to the characteristic form in Bubo.-f 



* Noctua and Scops have a bill similar to that of Otus ; but their small round nares with 

 a very swollen tect, sometimes even salient and tubular (in Noctua at least) are contradis- 

 tinctivc: so also their unplumcd toes. The toes of iVoc<?fa agree with those of Strix, saving 

 only the pectcn of the central talon in the latter genus. The wings of both Noctua and Scops 

 are usually short ; but those of the former are of a firmer texture ; as is, indeed, their whole 

 plumage, 



t In defining Cvltrunguis I omitted to stale the length and nervousness of the toes, which, 

 with the extreme roughness of the soles, are characters almost as significant as the cultraled 

 talons, and obviously subservient to the same end of clutching successfully the sliiipery bodies 

 of fish. 



