Fishes new to the British Fauna, 15 



its neighbour, the tawny owl ? I beg to remark, that though 

 I unhesitatingly grant the faculty of hooting to this one par- 

 ticular individual owl, still I flatly refuse to believe that 

 hooting is common to barn owls in general. Ovid, in his 

 sixth book Fastorum, pointedly says that it screeched in his 

 day: — 



" Est illis strigibus nomen ; sed nominis hujus 

 Causa, quod horrenda stridere nocte solent." * 



The barn owl may be heard shrieking here perpetually on 

 the portico, and in the large sycamore trees near the house. 

 It shrieks equally when the moon shines and when the night 

 is rough and cloudy ; and he who takes an interest in it may 

 here see the barn owl the niffht throucrh when there is a 

 moon ; and he may hear it shriek when perching on the trees, 

 or when it is on wing. He may see it and hear it shriek, 

 within a few yards of him, long before dark ; and again, often 

 after daybreak, before it takes its final departure to its wonted 

 resting place. I am amply repaid for the pains I have taken 

 to protect and encourage the barn owl ; it pays me a hun- 

 dred-fold by the enormous quantity of mice which it destroys 

 throughout the year. The servants now no longer wish to 

 persecute it. Often, on a fine summer's evening, with delight 

 I see the villagers loitering under the sycamore trees longer 

 than they would otherwise do, to have a peep at the barn owl, 

 as it leaves the ivy-mantled tower: fortunate for it, if, in 

 lieu of exposing itself to danger, by mixing with the world at 

 large, it only knew the advantage of passing its nights at 

 home ; for here 



" No birds that haunt my valley free 

 To slaughter I condemn ; 

 Taught by the Power that pities me, 

 I learn to pity them.'* 



Charles Waterton. 

 Walton Hall, Novembe?' 26. 1831. 



Art. IV. Fishes nexv to the British Fauna, contained in Couch's 

 *' History of the Fishes of CormvalL'^ By Jonathan Couch, 

 Esq. F.L.S. &c. 



Midge (Cilia^ta glau'ca); Class II. Jugular Fishes. 



The Midge {fig. 2.) is about 1 J in. in length ; the body 

 moderately elongated, the proportions much resembling those 



* " They are called owls (striges), because they are accustomed to 

 screech (stridere) by night." 



