And sat on a lady’s knee;
But am now a nightly rover,
Banish’d to the ivy tree.
Crying, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo.
Hoo, hoo, hoo, my feet are cold;
Pity me, for here you see me,
Persecuted, poor, and old.’”[212]
The Owls are divided into two families, the first of which is called Bubonidæ, and the second Strigidæ. In the latter family are represented only two genera, Strix and Heliodilus, which contain six species, all the remaining Owls, about one hundred and ninety in number, belonging to the Bubonidæ. The breast-bone in the latter family always shows two or more clefts or indentations, and there are no “serrations” on the middle claw, whereas the Barn-Owls always have the inner edge of the middle claw serrated, that is, with a small, toothed margin, like the teeth of a saw (serra, Lat., a saw; serratus, notched like a saw), and the breast-bone has no clefts in its hinder edge. The Bubonidæ embrace two sub-families, the Buboninæ, which have no operculum, or fold of skin, closing in the ear, and the Syrniinæ, which have a very large operculum. It seems natural to commence the classification of the Nocturnal Accipitres with the Bare-legged or Fishing Owls, as the structure of this part very much resembles that of the Osprey, which was the concluding representative of the Diurnal Accipitres. The thigh feathers are thick, and fit close to the leg; the tarsus and toes are bare; the outer toe is reversible; and the soles of the feet are covered with tiny spicules, which serve to hold fast their finny prey in the same manner as do those of the Osprey.
THE FISH OWL.