ACCIPITRES. 
173 
chiefly during twilight, or by the light of the moon. When attacked by day, or struck by the 
appearance of some new object, they [the majority of them] do not fly off", but stand more 
erect, assume grotesque attitudes, and make the most ludicrous gestures. 
Their stomach is tolerably muscular, [as compared with the Falcons,] although their prey 
is wholly animal, consisting of Mice, small birds, [even fish in some instances,] and insects ; 
but IS preceded by a large craw, [an inadvertent statement 
of the author, as the absence of any expansion of the 
gullet, which is wide, but always of uniform diameter (see 
fig. 79 o), invariably distinguishes the nocturnal from all the 
diurnal birds of prey] ; the coeca {h) are long, and enlarged 
towards the extremity, &c. Small Birds have a natural 
antipathy to them, and assemble from all parts to assail 
them; hence they are employed to attract Birds to the 
snare. [It may be added, that their tarsi are in no in- 
stance scaled, even when denuded of feathers, as in the 
subdivision Ketupaj all of them lay round white eggs.] 
They form one genus, that of 
The Owls {Strix, Linn,), — 
Which may be divided according to their head-tufts, the size of 
their ears, the extent of the circle of feathers which surrounds 
their eyes, and some other characters. 
Those species which around the eyes have a large complete 
disk of fringed feathers, itself surrounded by a circle or collar of 
scaly feathers, and between the two a large opening for the ear 
(see fig. 80), are more removed in their form and manners from 
the diurnal Birds of Prey, than those in which the ear is small, 
oval, and covered by fringed feathers which come from below 
the eye. Traces of these differences are perceptible even in the 
skeleton, [though only as regards the degree of stoutness of the 
Fig.7fl.-AiimentarycanaiofanOwi:a,therinet>ones (sce figs. 81 and 84), there being no gradation ortransi- 
devoid of any craw; b, the caeca.* Falcons, either in the skclcton or digestive organs. 
The following arrangement of the Owls, based on the comparative size of the aperture of the ear, is 
liable to the objection of dispersing some nearly allied groups, and approximating others that are less 
so, which is almost necessarily the result of too exclusive attachment to any single character.] 
Among the first species, we will distinguish 
The Hiboux (Otus, Cuv.), — 
Which have two tufts of feathers (vulg. horns) which they 
can erect at will, and the ear-conch of which (fig. 80), 
extends in a semicircle from the beak almost to the top of 
the head, and is furnished anteriorly with a membranous 
operculum. Their feet are feathered to the toes. Such, in 
Europe, are 
The Long-tufted Hibou {Str. otus, Lin.).— Very widely distri- 
buted ; it inhabits woods, especially those of fir and other ever- 
greens, and breeds generally in deserted Crows’ nests : and 
The Short-tufted Hibou {Str. brachyotus, Lin.). — Found almost 
every where, [if indeed the same species, which there is reason to 
doubt : it inhabits open moors, breeds on the ground, and exhibits 
trifling sexual disparity of size. This bird is scarcely, if at all, 
dazzled by sun-light : it is the Brachyotus palustris of Gould]. 
We apply the designation of 
Fig-. SO.— Ear of Hibou, as ol)served by raising its ante 
riui- Hap. 
Copied from M. M'Gillivray’s Rapacious Birds of Britain. 
