Introduction
The Mauritius Owl was a species that become extinct in the mid 1800s. It is known from a collection of subfossil bones from the Mare aux Songes swamp, a detailed sketch made by de Jossigny in 1770, a detailed description by Desjardins of a bird shot in 1836, and a number of brief reports about owls, the first being those of Van Westzanen in 1602 and Matelief in 1606.
Information
Distribution: Occurred on the Mascarene island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar.
Status: Extinct.
Original Description: Newton, Alfred & Gadow, Hans Friedrich (1893): On additional bones of the Dodo and other extinct birds of Mauritius obtained by Mr. Théodore Sauzier. Trans. Zool. Soc. 13: 281–302, plate 33: figures 11–18.
