CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMON BIRDS. 5 



duties, that darkness has, per se, a degree of terror in it, quite apart from 

 associations of any kind, and here there is this strange anomaly, that, 

 instead of fear prompting silence, it should produce garrulity, yet so it is. 

 The majority of our nocturnal birds are inhabitants of wilds, and the 

 "lonely places of the earth," as if it was intended that their shrieks or 

 wails should not trench upon the rest of creatures located in peopled 

 districts, 



"The Bittern's boomitigs, dissonant and harsh, 

 Wake only echoes from the dreary marsh; 

 And nature's ordering hand, ibr ever kind, 

 The Owlets' screams has to the woods confined." 



This last observation, however, does not universally hold good, for there is 

 not a plough-boy in agricultural places who does not know how sacred the 

 Yellow Owl is held in the farm-yard, by reason of his mousing propensities. 

 It is almost incredible, it is said, how many of the genus Mus fall into the 

 clutches of these midnight hunters, and I have myself at dusk seen them 

 watching, cat-like, at the foot of stacks for their prey, though how they 

 are quick enough to catch them then I do not know, as I never saw the 

 feat performed; in flying it is a different matter, of course. Most members 

 of the Owl tribe are fond of the woods, but there is a handsome species 

 which is as often found on commons; this is the Long-eared Owl, of which 

 the hen is really a very large bird when on the wing, and it is probable 

 that small rabbits and leverets are preyed upon by this bird, as well as 

 young game; indeed this is taken for granted by sportsmen, although they 

 would be puzzled to give any proof of the fact. This idea is easily kept 

 up by gamekeepers, who get so much a head for destroying "vermin," 

 and therefore, it is obvious, the more they can swell the number of luckless 

 animals to- be included under that general term, the better for them. The 

 talons of this tribe of birds are of a very formidable description, and 

 therefore it is obvious that there must be some use for them, which is 

 hardly to be accounted for if we confine their prey to mice only. 



It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance that the plumage of all night- 

 birds should be so very much more downy, as to the quill feathers, that 

 is, than that of day-birds, and Gilbert White and other naturalists assume 

 that the purpose to be answered is the being thus enabled to steal unper- 

 ceived upon their quarry. But the difficulty is this: are nocturnal animals 

 more active than diurnal? or are nocturnal animals of prey less endowed 

 with activity? I do not know that I can honestly answer either of these 

 questions in the affirmative. Mice are certainly very quick in their move- 

 ments, but it is in a limited space, and I don't know they are more so 

 than ordinary wild animals. Then again, no doubt, the Owl has a clumsy 

 appearance, chiefly from his large head, (which, by the way, owes much 



