LETTER TO WILLIAM SWA IN SON, ESQ. 517 



In speaking of the vulture, you remark" But that those parts of 

 the bird which come in contact with its offensive food should not be 

 soiled and matted together ; the whole of the head (and particularly 

 a great part of the neck) is entirely destitute of feathers." 



When you made this erudite discovery in Nature's economy, were 

 you quite ignorant that the little feathery-footed bantam, whose 

 plumage reaches beyond the toes, may be seen half-leg deep in dirty 

 ditches, and at the mouths of the filthiest sewers? Why, then, 

 should careful Dame Nature deprive the vulture of a cravat lest it 

 should be soiled by carrion, and at the same time supply the bantam 

 with warm stockings, which she well knew would be encrusted with 

 nastiness whenever there was an opportunity to walk into it ? The 

 Dame, too, ought to have deprived the rough-haired spaniel of his 

 shaggy waistcoat ; for she must have known that this brute would 

 anoint himself with purulence from rotten carrion as often as within 

 his reach. 



Your lucubration on the eyes of the owl comes next under con- 

 sideration. 



" The eyes of this bird," you say, " in the first place are of enor- 

 mous size." Nobody doubts it. " But as if this was not sufficient," 

 you continue, " they are surrounded with two large concave disks, 

 generally composed of white and shining feathers, for the purpose of 

 concentrating a greater extent of light to be reflected upon the eye, 

 which is placed in the centre. There can be little doubt on this 

 being the true use of the facial disk in owls, although the circum- 

 stance appears never yet to have been touched upon." 



I should wonder if it had. 



Supposing your theory to be true then, indeed, has Dame Nature 

 most cruelly punished your " type," the barn owl ; for even in the 

 month of June she directs this bird to hunt for mice, and she shows 

 it how to catch them when the sun is blazing in a cloudless sky.* 

 This I myself have seen repeatedly. To what intense pain must 

 this poor bird be doomed, if its feathery " facial disk" has the power 

 of reflecting the burning rays of the sun upon its eye ! If the "facial 

 disk" could effect this, the barn owl would assuredly be aware of it ; 

 and she would either, in common prudence, keep her room till night- 

 * " Owls of this group are eminently nocturnal." SWAINSON. 



