40 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



" have a large external ear, which, nevertheless, is 

 not so prominent as that of quadrupeds ; this opening 

 is generally covered with barbed feathers, more 

 fringed than the others*." With respect to the ex- 

 ternal opening of the ear " in the owl,'* says Grew, 

 " that perches on a tree, and hearkens after the prey 

 beneath her, it is produced farther out above than it 

 is below, for the better reception of the least sound J." 

 It appears to us, however, that the large circle of 

 feathers, remarkable in many of the owls, is more 

 fitted for producing a convergence of the rays of 

 light than the pulses of sound, inasmuch as the very 

 soft feathers of which they are composed are among 

 the very worst conductors of sound. The same 

 thing may be said of the smaller tuft of feathers 

 immediately around the ear itself. 



Head of the Horned Owl (Stria Otus}. 



Be this as it may, there can be no doubt about the 

 peculiar conformation of the bones of the external 



* Regne Animal, i. 305, edit. 1829. 

 t Cosmologia Sacra, i. 5. 



