THE FERN-OWL. 91 



of a writer in the Magazine of Natural History ; 

 viz. that the singular claw of the fern-owl is 

 formed for the purpose of detaching the short 

 hooked claws of the beetles or chaffers, which are 

 occasionally fixed to the side of the mouth, and 

 must impede the birds swallowing them. 



White seems to have been, as we before observ- 

 ed, the first English naturalist who accurately 

 noted the peculiarities of this bird. In the 

 green recesses of his own beloved village, he lin- 

 gered, ift many a calm summer evening, to watch 

 the flight of the fern-owl, chasing its insect prey 

 amid the trees, and producing the singular sound 

 which he compares to the clattering of castanets. 

 To those who, dwelling in the neighbourhood of 

 Selborne, have been reared from childhood in 

 enthusiastic admiration for that picturesque vil- 

 lage, and an almost affectionate interest for every 

 thing connected with the memory of the natu- 

 ralist, the sight and sound of this bird will ever 

 recall Selborne to their recollection with vivid 

 feelings of delight. Were we to meet with it 

 at the farthest ends of the earth, we should in a 

 moment be transported to Selborne, and live 

 over again some of the sunniest days of our 

 lives, when, in the society of those dearest to us, 

 we made our summer pilgrimages to the village, 

 and paid our devoirs at the shrine of the amiable 



