OWLS. 157 



ing very serious, as if moralising, thoughtful, and grave. 

 These holes were guarded in the day-time by two of the above- 

 mentioned little Owls, who were never an instant away from 

 their post. As strangers gallop by, there the Owls continue 

 to sit, looking at them, first full in the face, and then at each 

 other, moving their old-fashioned heads in a manner which 

 was quite ridiculous, when, as the riders pass close to them, 

 fear gets the better of their dignified looks, and they both run 

 into the biscachos' holes.* 



The next order which offers itself to our notice in the tables 

 of classification, is the Passerine, 

 subdivided into seven tribes, the 

 first of which is the Crenirostral, 

 from two Latin words, signifying 

 notch-billed, as they are all more 

 or less indented or notched to- 

 wards the extremity, as in the annexed figure. 



In the preceding order the same peculiarity, indeed, exists ; 

 but in the crenirostral tribe the beak is, generally speaking, of 

 a very different character, though in some cases there is a 

 resemblance. In fact, the more we examine the arrangements 

 of nature in its orders of created beings, whether in animals, 

 birds, fishes, or insects, the more shall we be struck with the 

 beautiful connection between the several classes into which 

 they are divided, and the utter impossibility of drawing up 

 rules which shall, without exceptions, accurately define the 

 marks of distinction. The works of God, in short, whether 

 in the animal, vegetable, or mineral world, may be likened to 



" The letting down a golden chain from high " — 



a chain of innumerable uninterrupted links, visible to us only 

 in the intermediate portions, and each attesting the wisdom 

 and power of its great Contriver. Thus, in the subject under 

 our immediate consideration, we find that from the gigantic 

 Condor or great Vulture of the Alps, to the small Humming • 

 bird, not exceeding in size a humble-bee, there is a regular 

 * Head's Rough Notes. 



