THE OWL KIND. 203 



six feathers, which are not more than an inch in length. 

 There is still a smaller kind of horned owl, very little 

 larger than the blackbird in size: the horns of this con- 

 sist of only one feather erected on each side the animal's 

 head. 



To these succeed the tribe without horns, which bear 

 the following different names : — The howlet, which is 

 the largest, has dusky plumes and black penetrating 

 eyes. The screech owl, with plumes of iron-grey, and 

 eyes rather inclining to blue. The zshite owl, with 

 plumage according to its name, and the yellow cast to 

 the eyes. The great brown owl, with feathers of that 

 colour : and the little brown owl, with eyes yellow, and 

 an orange-coloured beak. To this catalogue might be 

 added others of foreign denomination; but I shall only 

 mention the harfatig, or great owl of Hudson's Bay, 

 which is the largest of all the nocturnal depredators, and 

 as white as the snows which surround the place. 



All this tribe of animals, though they may differ in 

 size and plumage, agree" in the practice of taking their 

 prey by night. Their bodies are formed with a degree 

 of muscular strength, and their stomachs calculated for 

 digesting their food, which consists of birds, mice, and 

 lizards, all of which they are said voraciously to eat; fo* 

 one owl is thought equal to half a dozen cats in devour- 

 ing the mice which so often prove destructive to wheat. 



As these birds are incapable of supporting the glare 

 of day, they are fond of concealing themselves in ob- 

 scure retreats ; and the cavern of a rock, the ruin of a 

 castle, the battlement of a church, or the hollow of a 

 tree, are generally the cheerless mansions where they 

 dwell, where the hollow wailing of their discordant 

 voice impresses a kind of gloomy sensation on the mind; 

 for the screech owl's scream has, by the superstitious, 

 been considered as the presage of misfortune and the 



