40 OWLS 



I have mentioned the eagle owl ; and as he is 

 met with as an occasional straggler in this country, 

 and as I have kept successive pairs of them in an 

 aviary at Harrow for many years, I must add a 

 word or two about him. He is the most magnifi- 

 cent, I think, not only of the owls, but of all birds. 

 The female, as is the case with many birds of prey 

 notably the peregrine falcon and the sparrow-hawk 

 is a third larger than the male, and far surpasses 

 him in every manly quality. She takes the lead 

 throughout ; she is everywhere and everything ; he 

 nowhere and nothing. Her talons have a terrible 

 grip and strength. She has been known to kill a dog 

 or a sheep, and to carry off a full-grown hare with- 

 out much apparent trouble. When she is angered by 

 the unceremonious approach of a visitor, she lowers 

 her head almost to the ground, moves it slowly from 

 side to side in a long sweep, snaps loudly with her 

 bill, quivers from head to foot with half- suppressed 

 rage, and raises her wings in a vast circle above her 

 body, each " particular " feather " standing on end " 

 erect and distinct, her eyes flashing fiercely the while, 

 and turning from a yellow to a fiery red. But even 

 when she is thus excited, she will allow you, if you go 

 cautiously to work, to get your hand above and 

 behind her head, and, almost burying it in the soft 



