xlii 
I N T It 0 D U C T I O N. 
large Ringtail, and soared high over the hills. The eggs were all just chijyped by the approaching extrusion 
of the young. I took one of the eggs, to see the development of the chick; it was quite naked, but the bill 
perfectly formed. The keeper tells me that the whole six eggs were laid twenty-seven days ago ; therefore 
it must take about thirty days to hatch them.” 
33. Circus cinerascexs Vol. I. PI. XXVII. 
Ash-cououhed Harrier. 
Although I have called this species hy the above appellation, it is far better known to British ornitho- 
logists by the trivial name of Montagu’s Harrier. The wings of this bird are long and curved ; and its large 
fan-shaped tail, crossed by numerous chestnut-coloured bars, must render it very conspicuous during flight. 
Judging from the result of my own observations, I should say that this is the commonest of the Harriers, 
and that it is certainly the one most universally dispersed over our islands. Its breeding-places have been 
found more frequently in Cornwall and other southern and western counties than elsewhere. So widely does 
this bird range that it is to be found in most of the countries between Europe and China. 
I have mentioned that reptiles form no inconsiderable portion of the food of the Harriers; and in confir- 
mation I may quote the following passage from a letter addressed to me by my friend Mr. Gatcombe, on the 
3rd of May, 1872: — “A few days since, I had a fine old male Montagu’s Harrier brought to me. It was 
killed on Dartmoor ; and from its crop and stomach I took no less than fourteen lizards, of two kinds, all 
neai'ly perfect, and each full 6 Inches long.” 
Family STRIGIDiE. 
In round numbers there are about 200 different species of Owls distributed over the surface of the globe, 
only twelve of which were known to Linnaeus, by whom they were included in one genus, Striw. The entire 
group are now divided into two great divisions, Nocturni and Diurni, and these again into minor subfamilies, 
genera, and subgenera, just as the ornithologist may please to consider them. In England there are ten 
species, belonging to as many genera. As might be supposed, so large a family of birds vary in size from 
that of a small Eagle to that of a Sparrow. So extensively are they distributed over the world, that it is 
almost only in the arctic and antarctic regions that they are not found. They are fewest in New Zealand 
and Polynesia, and are perhaps more abundant in xVustralia than elsewhere, not less than six species of true 
Striw Inhabiting that country, besides others pertaining to different genera, all of which find a ready means 
of subsistence in the many small anomalous quadrupeds of that anomalous section of the earth’s surface. 
'J’he excess in the numbers of the White or Barn Owls, as we call our bird, doubtless keeps a wholesome 
check upon the undue increase of the small animals alluded to. How strange (is it not ?) that the neigh- 
