OWLS. 153 



number, and it was suspected that the pond had been poached, 

 and other persons were therefore appointed to watch ; when 

 lo ! the poachers proved to be Owls, which alighted on the 

 edge of the water, and there waited the approach of the fish ; 

 as soon as these came within reach, they were captured and 

 devoured. This testimony has since been corroborated by 

 another witness, who at twilight in July, happened to be 

 standing on the middle of a bridge, watching an Owl carrying 

 mice to its nest, when suddenly he observed it to drop per- 

 pendicularly into the water. At first he thought it had met 

 with an accident, or had been seized with some sort of fit, but 

 before he could reach the end of the bridge in search of a 

 boat, he saw it rise out of the water with a fish in its claws, 

 and convey it to its nest. It has been conjectured by some, 

 that as fish are attracted by a light or any shining substance, 

 there may be a luminous appearance in the large round and 

 bright eyes of an Owl, like those of a cat, which are known 

 to all for their glaring in the dark, by which the fish are at- 

 tracted within reach of its beak or claws. How far this 

 conjecture may be true we know not, but it is worthy of con- 

 sideration, on account of a very singular power possessed by 

 one of the American Bitterns, which has been confirmed by 

 several witnesses whose veracity it would be impossible to 

 doubt. This bird, which lives almost entirely on fish, when 

 in pursuit of prey, decoys them within reach by a light from 

 its breast of considerable brilliancy, described by those who 

 have seen it, " as equal to the light of a common torch." 

 Whether it has the power of increasing or diminishing, or 

 entirely putting out this light, is not known, but its use to it 

 as a fishing-bird is very great, for it not only attracts the fish 

 within reach, but when they are there, enables the Bittern to 

 see them without difficulty. 



Owls have been noticed for an extraordinary attachment to 

 their young ; whether, however, it exceeds that of other birds 

 or animals may be difficult to say, but they will certainly visit 

 and feed them long after they have been separated from the 

 nest. Some young Owls, which had been so far tamed as to 

 take food from the hand, were observed to lose all their fami- 



