TAWNY HOOTING-OWL/ 443 



less been procured from the neighbouring brook, in which these 

 species abound. Since the above period, I have on more than 

 one occasion found the same fish, either whole or in fragments, 

 lying under the trees on which I have observed the young owls 

 to perch after they have left the nest, and where the old birds 

 were accustomed to feed them.'"' 



This Owl, as well as other species, has in fact been seen to 

 seize fishes in the water. On this subject the Bishop of Nor- 

 wich makes the following remarks : " It has been conjectured 

 by some, that as fish are attracted by a light or any shining sub- 

 stance, there maybe a luminous appearance in the large, round, 

 and bright eyes of an Owl, like those of a cat, which are known 

 to all for their glaring in the dark, by which the fish are at- 

 tracted within reach of its beak or claws." Now, in the first 

 place, I have carefully observed the eyes of two species of Owl, 

 but found that they emitted no light in the dark ; and secondly, 

 in all the eyes of Owls that I have dissected, there is no tape- 

 tum, like that which reflects light in quadrupeds, but the cho- 

 roid coat is entirely covered with pigmentum nigrum. 



Young. — The young of both sexes resemble the adult, with 

 this difference only, that they are more tinged with red. 



Progress toward Maturity. — It appears that the older the 

 individuals, the more grey they assume on the upper, and the 

 more white on the lower parts ; but at what period of life they 

 assume the colouring which gave rise to the idea of a distinct 

 species is not known. An individual which is presumed to be 

 old may be described thus : The general colour of the upper 

 parts is pale umber, tinged with grey, longitudinally streaked 

 with darker brown, and transversely barred, undulated, and 

 dotted with greyish-white and greyish-brown. The facial disks 

 are greyish-white, the anterior feathers with the shafts black 

 toward the end, those behind with a faint brown bar near the 

 tip. The ruff is reddish above, white below, but mai-ked with 

 dark brown, that colour occupying nearly the whole of the 

 feathers in the middle part. The lower parts arc greyish- white, 

 streaked and barred as in the young. 



