234 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN BIRDS. 



The birds soon divided in groups as they chose ; 

 In the air soaring these, and in water swam those ; 

 To the wood some retir'd ; others flew up the dell, 

 Where a bubbhng clear fount over rocks dashing fell. 

 There was singing ^ the chief: there was billing and 



cooing; 

 And many a coy one her lover came wooing. 

 There was diving, the Sheldrake's distinguished for 



that, 

 While some Warbler's sweet notes admiration begat; 



wings about five feet ; size, nearly as large as an eagle. Inha- 

 bits Europe, Kalmuc Taitary, and South America; occasionally 

 met with in this country. Chases hares, rabbits, moles, and 

 mice, which if swallows whole; but the hair, bones, and skin, 

 which resist the action of the siomach, it ejects in round 

 balls, similar to the eagle tribe, termed castings. Eggs two, said 

 to be larger than those ola hen ; they are mottled like the bird. 



Wilson describes an owl under the term Virginiana, or 

 Great-Horjsed-Owl, which he supposes a variety of the pre- 

 ceding : {he male is twenty inches long, the female two feet; its 

 notes, IVavgh O! fVavgh O/ remains in America the whole 

 year. 



The Otus, Long-eared Owl, Hom-Otcl, is a beautiful spe- 

 cies, in length fifteen inches ; the horns consist of six feathers 

 variegated with black; its general colour is an ochraceous 

 yellow. Varieties of this species found all over Europe and 

 America ; more common in this country than the preceding. 



Tlie Stridula, Tawny-Owl, Common-Brown-Owl, Jry-Owl, 

 Black-Old, Aluco-Owl, Wood-Owl, or Screech-Owl, has the back, 

 head, and coverlets of the wings, a tine tawny red, elegantly 

 marked with black or dusky spots; fifteen inches long; inhabits 

 Europe, America, the West Indies, and this country, and is by 

 far the most plentiful of the owl tribe in England. Breeds in 



