126 THE FEATHEKED TKIBES. 



and sorrow that the new tenants might bring into the hall. She made a low curtsey, as 

 much as to say, ' Sir, I fall mto yom- will and pleasure ; ' but I saw in her eye that 

 she had made up her mind to have to do with things of fearful and portentous shape, 

 and to hear many a midnight wailing in the surromiding woods. I do not think that, 

 up to the day of this old lady's death, which took place in her eighty-fourth year, she 

 ever looked with pleasure or contentment on the barn owl, as it flew romid the large 

 sycamore trees which grew near the old rmned gateway." 



Mr. Waterton, indeed, fomided a colony of owls, and found that the number of mice 

 they destroyed were immense. So true are the words of Butler: — 



" While moonlight, silvering all the walls, 

 Through every mouldering crevice falls, 

 Tipping with white his powdery plume, 

 As shades or shifts the changing gloom ; 

 The owl that, watching in the barn. 

 Sees the mouse creeping in the corn, 

 Sits still, and shuts his round blue eyes, 

 As if he slept — until he spies 

 The little beast within his stretch. 

 Then starts, and seizes on the wretch ! 



THE BUKROWINO OWL.* 



One of the most curious of owls in its habits is the burrowing species of the New 

 World. These birds inhabit the burrows of the marmot, and consequently dwell in open 

 plains. They seem to enjoy even the broadest glare of the noon-day sun, and may be 

 seen flying rapidly along in search of food or pleasure durmg the prevalence of the 

 cheerful light of day. They manifest but little tunidity, allow themselves to be ap- 

 proached sufficiently close for shooting, and though some or all may soar away, they 

 settle down again at no great distance. If further disturbed, they either take a more 

 lengthened flight, or descend into their subterranean dwelUngs, from whence they are 

 dislodged with difficulty. When the young are only covered with down, they frequently 

 ascend the entrance to enjoy the warmth of the mid-day sun ; but as soon as they are 

 approached, they (juickly retire -within their burrow. In North America the bm-rowing 

 owl feeds chiefly on msects — in the West Indies (if the species are identical,) on rats 

 and reptiles. 



M. C. L. Bonaparte also describes a burrowing owl, wliich is a native of " the trana- 

 Mississippian territories of the United States, and which resides exclusively in the villages 

 of the marmot or prairie-dog " (Viscacha,) " whose excavations arc so commodious as 

 to render it unnecessary that our bu-d should dig for himself, as he ia said to do in 



* Strix (.'imicnlaria. — lionap. 



