86 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



into great request with the plume trade, which our gentle 

 ladies, by their passive obedience to despotic milliners, so 

 deplorably encourage. There are signs, however — welcome 

 signs — that in proportion as they are becoming better in- 

 formed of the nature and effects of this trade, so lady 

 customers are showing discrimination and forbearance in 

 the matter of hat and bonnet decoration. This, thinks Sir 

 H. Maxwell, to whom this concluding paragraph is due, is 

 no more than might have been reasonably expected, for 

 nobody believed that Englishwomen would consciously 

 encourage cruelty. 



THE OWLS. 



We now come to a very useful and much misrepre- 

 sented, as well as little understood, class of birds. 



Family — Strigidcc. 



Genus — 1. Strix. S. Jlanniica. Barn or White 



Owl. 



2. Syrniuni. S. aluco. Wood, Bi'own, or 



Tawny Owl. 



3. Asio. A. bracliyotiis. Short-eared Owl. 



A. oius. Long-eared Owl. 



The Barn or White Owl has its upper parts of a buft' 

 colour, shaded with orange, and finely marked with grey,, 

 and spotted with white and dark grey ; the face and under 

 parts arc white ; the bill is pale yellow, and the feet, which 

 are usually covered with bristles, are dark. Length, V^ 

 inches, of wdiich the tail measures 5. 



The Tawny or Wood Owl has the upper parts reddish 

 brown, spotted with brown of a darker shade, and black \ 

 the lower parts are pale buff, mottled with brown, and 



