Sophiornithidae

The Sophiornithidae are an extinct family of chicken-sized predatory birds that lived from the Paleocene to the Eocene periods of the Cenozoic, and were found primarily in Europe, and are thought to be primitive owls. They were also possibly related to Strigiformes.
The French genera Berruornis, as well as Palaeotyto and Palaeobyas from Quercy, are sometimes placed in this family. The latter might instead be barn owls, while the first might be a very basal owl but not an actual sophiornithid. Strigogyps was placed here for a time, but it has been revised several times since then and appears to be an ameghinornitid; these were distant relatives of the seriemas.