BARN OWL. 109 



[Genus — Coccyzus.] 



[CoccYzus AMERiCANus — Yellow-billed Cuckoo.] 



Has occurred five times in the British Islands. 



[Coccyzus erythrophthalimus — Black-billed Cuckoo.] 

 One single example occurred in Ireland. 



Order— STRIGES. 



Family— STRIGID.E. 



Genus— STRIX. 



STRIX FLAMMEA— BARN-o^vL. 



\^Ah{Co flanufieiis — Yarfell?^ 



Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo 

 Ssepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces. 



Virgil— ^nei'd IV., 462-3. 



With a boding note 

 The solitary Screech Owl strains her throat ; 

 And on a chimney's top, or turret's height, 

 Disturbs the silence of the [lonely] night. 



Dryden — Trans. 



Owls have much in common. They are as distinct from all 



other birds in appearance as they are in habits and in character. 



The upright position in which they hold themselves, their large 



heads, and staring eyes, with the feathers of the face radiating from 



each eye, give them a quaint air of meditation. Of all birds, they 



alone have their eyes immediately in front, like man ; and this, 



joined with a peculiarly solemn and grave expression, and frequent 



winks, makes them wear a humorous and half-human look, such as 



no other animal has in an equal degree. Their nocturnal habits, 



and the easy buoyant flight, which causes them so often to be 



seen, without being heard, strike the imagination ; and above and 



beyond all, when their peculiar, hollow, weird tone of voice, is 



suddenly heard in the gloom and stillness of the night, it never fails 



to startle those who recognise it, and often greatly terrifies those 



who do not. No wonder it has generally been represented by the 



poets as a bird of ill omen, the messenger of doom, the dreaded 



foreteller of woe, misfortune, or death. Innumerable allusions of 



this kind occur. 



