OWLS. 243 



feathers, they have the webs with plumules dis- 

 united at the tips, and either remarkably pliable, or 

 separated like the teeth of a saw, allowing a free 

 passage to the air, or possessing a pliability to yield 

 to its pressure ; yet the proportion of the quills 

 is similar to that belonging to birds endowed with 

 a powerful flight, and we see its use in the easy 

 light skimming or sailing near the surface of the 

 ground or cover, which is capable of being for a 

 long time sustained. But in addition to these 

 provisions for allowing a noiseless approach to 

 their prey, we find another nearly as essential, and 

 where a contrary arrangement would have ren- 

 dered the others useless. The colours of the 

 plumage exhibit a union of tints best suited for 

 concealment ; nothing marked or obtrusive, no 

 bright or gaudy plumes which might quickly catch 

 the eye of an otherwise unwarned prey, but a 

 chaste and harmonious blending of the more 

 sombre hues, mixing as a whole into a neutral 

 tint, but shewing, on close inspection, the most 

 minute and delicate of Nature's pencillings. The 

 tarsi and feet, though not shewing any grc^t 

 strength, are finely formed for grasping, for the 

 external toe is versatile, as in the Scansores ; and 

 the foot can thus be used either in scrambling m 

 the interior of some rent or chimney, or in the 

 hollow of a tree, while it also becomes more com- 

 plete as an organ of prehension. 



