FAMILY STRlGlDiE — THE OWLS. 243 



was the herald note of misery and death to the hearers or 

 their friends. When it flapped its wings at the window of 

 a sick person, his time had come, and his friends already 

 wailed him as among the dead. These charges against the 

 poor Owl were about as well founded as the claim of 

 wisdom set up for it by the Greeks, who made it sacred to 

 Minerva. All such notions were tounded on a2^j)earances 

 only, it frequented churchyards, because the buildings 

 attached to them abounded with secure places in which to 

 build its nest, and their nooks afforded protection from the 

 light of day, its eyes being unfitted to receive the full 

 rays of sunlight, that, instead of shedding light upon sur- 

 rounding things, dazzled and blinded the poor Owl. The 

 most surprizing thing is, that Owls should still have re- 

 tained a I'oothald in the midst of such hosts of human 

 enemies, all thirsty for their blood, and killing them with- 

 out mercy wenever an opportunity oflered. 



If farmers knew their own interests, they would encour- 

 age the visits of these birds, with few exceptions, as their 

 food consists of a class of vermin extremely injurious to the 

 farmer. Rats, mice, field mice, and all the small nocturnal 

 quadrupeds, are the chief reliance of his owlship, and the 

 number of these killed by a pair of these birds during the 

 breeding season is very great. The poultry yard never 

 suffers, unless from some of the largest species, that are 

 partly day fliers. And it would be \vell if Owls w^ere 

 encouraged to breed in the vicinity of the farm. Some 

 intelligent English farmers, aware of these facts, now pro- 

 tect the Owls, and, in return, are rewarded by a reduction 

 in the number of vermin that prey upon the produce of the 

 farm. 



Owls are scattered over the whole world, and there are 

 about one hundred and forty described species. America 

 contains about forty of them, but the number belonging to 

 the United States is much less. All the species are distin- 

 guished by a peculiar cat-like appearance, and their habits 



