54 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



yet they are sufficiently quick-sighted, at 

 times when we remain in total obscurity. In 

 the eyes of all animals, Nature hath made a 

 complete provision, either to shut out too 

 much light, or to admit a sufficiency, by the 

 contraction and dilatation of the pupil. In 

 these birds the pupil is capable of opening 

 very wide, or shutting very close ; by con- 

 tracting the pupil, the brighter light of the 

 day, which would act too powerfully upon the 

 sensibility of the retina, is excluded; by 

 dilating the pupil, the animal takes in the 

 more faint rays of the night, and thereby is 

 enabled to spy its prey, and catch it with 

 greater facility in the dark. Besides this, 

 there is an irradiation on the back of the eye, 

 and the very iris itself has a faculty of reflect- 

 ing the rays of light, so as to assist vision in 

 the gloomy places where these birds are found 

 to frequent. 



and when perched, hisses and snores considerably. It 

 is an abundant species throughout Europe and Asia, and 

 Temminck says it is the same throughout North Ameri- 

 ca. It is easily domesticated, and will become very 

 tame when taken young. Montagu reared a white owl, 

 a sparrow-hawk, and a ring-dove together, who lived in 

 great harmony for six months. They were then set at 

 liberty : and the owl was the only one of the three that 

 returned. 



Next to the white or barn owl, the Tawny Owl is the 

 most abundant of the British species,* and is, like the 

 former, generally dispersed throughout the kingdom : 

 but is most readily to be met with in well-wooded dis- 

 tricts, as it takes up its abode in woods and thick planta- 

 tions, preferring those which abound in firs and holly, 

 or ivy bushes. In such situations it remains concealed 

 till night-fall, as it is very impatient of the glare of day, 

 and sees, indeed, imperfectly during that time. It 

 builds in the cavities of old trees, or will occupy the 

 deserted nest of a crow, and produces four or five white 

 eggs, of an elliptical shape. The young, on their ex- 

 clusion, are covered with a grayish down, and are easily 

 tamed, when fed by the hand; but Montagu observes, 

 that if placed out of doors within hearing of their parents, 

 they retain their native shyness, as the old birds visit 

 them at night, and supply them with abundance of food. 

 They prey upon rats, mice, moles, rabbits, and young 

 leverets, and are sometimes destructive to pigeons, 

 entering the dovecots, and committing great havock. 

 At night this species is very clamorous, and is easily to 

 be known from the others by its hooting, in the utter- 

 ance of which sounds its throat is largely inflated. 



Little Owl. This diminutive species is only an 

 occasional visitant in England, and that but very rarely. 

 According to Temminck, it is never found in Europe 

 beyond the 55th degree of north latitude ; but in the 

 warmer regions of this quarter of the globe it is very 

 common. It inhabits ruins, church-towers, and similar 

 old buildings, and in such it also breeds. The eggs 

 are four or five in number, of a round shape, and white, 

 like those of most of the other species. It is of a wild 

 and fierce disposition, and not capable of being tamed 

 like the little horned or scops eared owl. It sometimes 

 preys by day, and, from having been seen to pursue 

 swallows, must be strong and rapid on the wing. Its 

 prey consists of mice, small birds, and insects. Selby's 

 Ornithology. 



* Sir William Jardine considers the long-eared owl to be 

 more frequently met with than the tawny owl, especially in 

 the south of Scotland. The long eared owl is more common 

 in America than even the barn owl. 



But though owls are dazzled by too bright 

 a day-light, yet they do not see best in the 

 darkest nights, as some have been apt to 

 imagine. It is in the dusk of the evening, 

 or the gray of the morning, that they are best 

 fitted for seeing, at those seasons when there 

 is neither too much light, nor too little. It is 

 then that they issue from their retreats, to 

 hunt or to surprise their prey, which is usually 

 attended with great success : it is then that 

 they find all other birds asleep, or preparing 

 for repose, and they have only to seize the 

 most unguarded. 



The nights when the moon shines are the 

 times of their most successful plunder ; for 

 when it is wholly dark, they are less qualified 

 for seeing and pursuing their prey : except, 

 therefore, by moonlight, they contract the 

 hours of their chase ; and if they come out at 

 the approach of dusk in the evening, they re- 

 turn before it is totally dark, and then rise 

 by twilight the next morning to pursue their 

 game, and to return in like manner, before 

 the broad day-light begins to dazzle them with 

 its splendour. 



Yet the faculty of seeing in the night, or of 

 being entirely dazzled by the day, is not 

 alike in every species of these nocturnal birds : 

 some see by night better than others ; and 

 some are so little dazzled by day-light, that 

 they perceive their enemies, and avoid them. 

 The common white or barn owl, for instance, 

 sees with such exquisite acuteness in the 

 dark, that though the barn has been shut at 

 night, and the light thus totally excluded, yet 

 it perceives the smallest mouse that peeps 

 from its hole : on the contrary, the brown 

 horned owl is often seen to prowl along the 

 hedges by day, like the sparrow-hawk ; and 

 sometimes with good success. 



All birds of the owl kind may be divided 

 into two sorts ; those that have horns, and 

 those without. These horns are nothing more 

 than two or three feathers that stand upon each 

 side of the head over the ear, and give this 

 animal a kind of horned appearance. Of the 

 horned kind is, the Great Horned Owl, which 

 at first view appears as large as an eagle. 

 When he comes to be observed more closely, 

 however, he will be found much less. His 

 legs, body, wings, and tail, are shorter ; his 

 head much larger and thicker ; his horns are 

 composed of feathers that rise above two inches 

 and a half high, and which he can erect or 

 depress at pleasure: his eyes are large and 

 transparent, encircled with an orange-coloured 

 iris : his ears are large and deep, and it would 

 appear that no animal was possessed with a 

 more exquisite sense of hearing; his plumage 

 is of a reddish brown, marked on the back 

 with black and yellow spots, and yellow only 

 upon the belly. 



