76 
ALLEN’S naturalist’s LIBRARY. 
Range outside tiie British Islands.— A well-known inhabitant of 
the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon, ranging westwards through 
Baluchistan to Persia, and even to Asia Minor. 
Hahits.— Similar to those of Coracuis garrulus. 
THE OWLS. ORDER STRIGES. 
The Owls have generally been considered to be Birds of 
Prey, and to form a part of the Order Accipitnformes, 
which embraces all the Vultures, Hawks, and Ospreys. Ihe 
Owls, however, possess so many peculiar characteristics, that 
by many modern zoologists they are considered to be very dis- 
tinct from Hawks, and there is a good deal to be said as to 
their separation from that group of birds, but I cannot admit 
the wide divorce which Ur. Oadow seeks to introduce belwera 
the Accipilres and the Slriges. According to the paper pub- 
lished by the last-named gentleman (in the “Proceedings^ 
•of the Zoological Society for 1892, pp. 229-256) on the “ Qassi- 
■fication of Birds,” the Owls come under his Order Coraciiformes, 
following the Parrots {Psiitaci), but also included in the sarne 
■Order as the Swifts, Trogons, and the bulk of Picariaii Birds. 
That the Parrots should come between the Picarians and the 
Owls seems to be a very feasible propositiori, for there are 
many Parrots which have Owl-like propensities, and even a 
Strigine appearance ; but, when all things are considered, the 
Owls must be reckoned more Bird.s of Prey than anything else, 
and even Ur. Oadow has to admit that the bill and feet m his 
.Sub-order Striges are “ raptorial ” and nothing else, even if his 
other characters are more or less Picarian. 
It must also be remembered that the Owls are related to the 
Accipilres through the Fandwnes, i.e., the Ospreys, or Fishing- 
Eagles, which, like the Owls, have the fourth toe reversible, 
while the proportions of the tibio tarsus and the tarso-meta- 
tarsal bones are exactly the same as those of the Owls. Among 
the latter, also, there are several species of Fishing-Owls which 
have bare feet, and the soles covered with spicules like the 
Ospreys. However much, therefore, we may regard the Owls 
