3(58 



OWL. 



It would require more space than we can afford to 

 analyse the relations which subsist between the notes 

 of birds, the times at which they are heard, and the 

 effects which they have upon the feelings, and conse- 

 quently upon the actions, of the human race ; but it 

 is certain that this influence is very great, and, if in- 

 vestigated with due care, it would tend to throw 

 much light upon the natural character of nations, 

 especially of those nations which live within and near 

 the icy zones, and whose character and feelings par- 

 take largely of that diversity which marks the seasons 

 of the year. There seems little doubt that many of 

 the birds which migrate northward in the early part 

 of the season, help to lengthen the day to the human 

 race. One loves to linger in the balmy air of a 

 summer evening to hear the notes of the nightingale; 

 and one is grateful for being awakened by the 

 same when morning first dapples the east. Our 

 present business, however, is more immediately with 

 the owls, and to them we must confine the remainder 

 of our observations. 



Various writers on birds have divided the owls into 

 genera or sub-genera, and described each division by 

 certain characters, which chiefly consist in differences 

 of size, and in the presence or the absence of pro- 

 duced feathers on the head, usually forming a sort of 

 tufts, which have very absurdly obtained the name of 

 horns. There is not much philosophy or use in those 

 subdivisions ; because, notwithstanding those differ- 

 ences in external appearance, an owl is an owl, 

 whether it is large or small, and whether it has tufts 

 of feathers on the head or not. If the same fondness 

 for subdivision, and the same disposition to establish 

 species upon small differences of external character 

 which is often applied to the lower animals, were ap- 

 plied to the human race, where its application would 

 be just as philosophical, we should often have three 

 or four species of men in the very same family. 



Such being the case, we shall merely mention the 

 general characters of the owls as if they were but 

 one genus, and shortly notice a few of the leading 

 species of which this genus is composed. The first 

 of these will enable us to convey a general notion of 

 what is meant by an owl, and the second will equally 

 enable us to point out in what manner and to what 

 extent owls fitted for different situations and climates 

 vary from each other. 



The general characters are : the head large ; the 

 eyes very large, directed to the front, and covered 

 by a circular concha or shell of feathers, the posterior 

 margin of which covers the opening of the ear, and 

 the anterior one the cere or naked skin at the base of 

 the beak, and sometimes the beak itself. The irides 

 of the eyes are remarkable for their sensibility. In 

 the dark twilight, or when the bird is shaded, they 

 are of immense extent; but when the light falls 

 strongly upon them, they are so contracted as that 

 no light is admitted, and the bird, unless in so 

 far as it is guided by the sense of hearing, and the 

 sensibility of its feathers, both of which are under- 

 stood to be very considerable, is bewildered, flies 

 bumping against obstacles, and would be an easy 

 capture if it were worth the trouble. But an owl, 

 though it looks plump in its feathers, is generally 

 nothing but skin and bones in its body ; and therefore 

 it holds out but little temptation to those more pow 

 erful birds which are on the wing during the day. 

 The skull of the owl is rather of large size, but of 

 tender fabric, and a considerable part of it is taken 



up by large cavities in which an expansion of the 

 auditory nerve is inserted, and this no doubt tends 

 greatly to increase the sense of hearing. The sense 

 is indeed one upon which owls must in many situa- 

 tions have their principal dependence, notwithstand- 

 ing the great volume or dim light which the expanded 

 pupils of their eyes admit. This appears to be espe- 

 cially the case with those owls which hunt as they 

 fly ; and it is highly probable that the hunting alarms 

 the prey, causes it to stir, so as to be audible, and 

 thus contributes to the success of the hunting. Every 

 one who has attended to the habits of animals must be 

 aware that the cry of a predatory animal excites great 

 agitation in its prey ; and that, were not this the case, 

 some of the most powerful of the predatory animals 

 would possess their strength in vain. 



Owls, for the most part, feed upon small mamma- 

 lia, little birds and insects, which they generally 

 catch upon the ground or in bushes ; but there are 

 some of the more powerful ones which prey upon 

 grouse and other birds of considerable size, and cap- 

 ture them on the wing during the day. 



Owls have the feet of nearly the same form with 

 diurnal preyers, namely, there toes in the front and 

 one to the rear ; they have very sharp and crooked 

 claws upon all the toes, but these are not so thick and 

 strong as in the diurnal preyers. The tarsi are in 

 general short, more slender than those of diurnal 

 preyers, but the muscles of the legs are well formed, 

 and in general much protected by feathers. The bill 

 is very crooked, though also much more slender than 

 that of the diurnal birds. The muscles by which it 

 is worked are also greatly protected from variations 

 of temperature, by the produced feathers around the 

 eye. Taking it altogether indeed, though an owl is 

 much less formidably armed than a diurnal bird of 

 prey, it is fully as ready in the use of those weapons 

 which it does possess ; and as we shall afterwards see 

 noticed in some of the species, owls can endure a 

 severity of climate before which the eagle herself is 

 constrained to give way. This does not of course 

 apply to all the species, for an owl, like every other 

 creature, is endowed up to its necessity, but not be- 

 yond it ; and in many countries the owls have no great 

 variation of temperature to endure. As is the case 

 with all animals which are naturally voracious feeders, 

 owls can be tamed. In that state they are familiar, 

 andjearn to distinguish those who feed them, though 

 they continue to snap and hiss at strangers. We 

 shall quote a few observations on owls from " The 

 feathered Tribes of the British Islands :" " The very 

 name of the owl," says the author, " is a name of 

 lamentation, expressive of the sound of its note, which 

 is one of the most melancholy love songs in the whole 

 chorus of nature. Superstition has accordingly laid 

 hold of the bird as one of the instruments by means of 

 which to bind the ignorant in the fetters of fear ; and 

 the circumstances attendant upon the owl, although 

 they admit of being turned to better and even de- 

 lightful purposes, have certainly an aptitude to be so 

 perverted. 



" Deep shady groves, hollow trees, crumbling ruins 

 clad with ivy, steeples and churches with their asso- 

 ciations of graves and ghosts all that seem dim to 

 human reason, all that stand monumental of the works 

 of nature, or of man and his works, is linked to the 

 owl by the closest and most general associations. 

 The owls in such places, often heard but seldom seen ; 

 when heard, heard in the gloom and stillness of night ; 



