28 
GUIDE TO THE 
shot a few years ago was proved to be a bird 
escaped from captivity. 
The Owls, or nocturnal Birds of Prey, are remarkable 
for the softness and beauty of their plumage — a beauty 
not shown in gay and splendid colours, but in the 
harmonious composition of simple grey, brown, white, 
and yellow tints. The Eagle-Owl {Bubo bubo or 
maximus), of rare occurrence in the north of Great 
Britain, and its smaller American representative 
{Bubo virginianus), are both shown in diflFerent sub- 
species or geographical races, the paler forms coming 
from more wintry climates. Of British species we 
have the Long-eared Owl (^Asio otus) and the Short- 
eared Owl (A. accipitrinus), the Barn-Owl {Strix 
flammed), the Tawny Owl (^Sgrnium aluco'), Teng- 
malm’s Owl {Nyctala tengmalmi), Little Owl {Athene 
noctvx), Snowy Owl {Nyctea scandiacd), and the 
American form of the Hawk-Owl, which has occurred 
a few times as a straggler, the European Hawk-Owl 
{flurnia ululd) having been obtained only once with 
certainty. The rarest Owl exhibited is the New 
Zealand Laughing Owl {Sceloglaux albifacies), now 
nearly extinct. The specimen here shown had been 
kept alive for a long time by Mr. Eothschild. 
The “Goatsuckers” or “Nightjars” {Caprimul- 
gidae), as well as the closely allied Podargidae, or 
“ Frog-Mouths,” are also nocturnal, and therefore 
resemble in plumage the Owls, with which they share 
the noiseless flight, but are otherwise probably not in 
