CLASS AVES: OEDEE EAPTOEES. 



133 



Fig. 



ful claws of the carnivorous mammals find their counterpart 

 in the hooked beak and powerful talons of the carnivorous 

 birds. The plumage of the sexes is usually unlike, and the 

 offspring for two or three seasons resembles the mother-bird. 

 The male of most species is smaller than the female, and not 

 quite so plain in its color. 



The order is thus tabulated into Families : 



RAPTORES. 



Strigidae.* The Owls comprise about two hundred spe- 

 cies. The sexes are colored alike, 

 and the mottled markings are 

 nearly as apparent in the young as 

 the old. Many species, however, 

 are dimorphous (double form) in 

 plumage. f So soft and downy are 

 the feathers, that in its nocturnal 

 foraging the owl's flight is noiseless 

 as a shadow ; while its acute sense 

 of hearing detects the feeblest 

 tread of a mouse. Living upon in- 

 jurious vermin, it deserves protec- 

 tion from the ruthless war waged 

 against it. The owl is the only 

 bird that can bring both eyes simul- 

 taneously to bear upon an object. 



Bubo virginianus, 

 Great-horned Owl. T \. 



mands animal food. Their place in the economy of nature is therefore as fixed as 

 that of the animals on which they prey ; and to associate with them notions of 

 cruelty and rapine is unwarrantable and irreverent. They do not, it is true, charm 

 our ears by their songs, nor delight our eye with their colors for either would betray 

 their presence to their victims and frustrate the design of their creation but they 

 faithfully perform their mission as scavengers. They also, like the carnivora gener- 

 ally, serve to prevent the undue increase of the Herbivora. 



* This extensive family is" cosmopolitan, several species being circumpolar, and 

 at least two existing all over the world, unless Australia be an exception. 



t Two young of the same sex in the same nest may start with different markings 

 and retain them through life. 



