172 THE TAWNY OWL. 



gular mode of procuring food, contrasted with its 

 anatomy, causes astonishment in the beholder, and 

 cannot fail to convince him that modern ornitholo- 

 gists were ignorant of the true nature of the king- 

 fisher when they rashly removed it from its old as- 

 sociates, and assigned it a place amongst strangers, 

 whose formation differs so widely from its own. 



NOTES ON THE HABITS OF THE TAWNY 

 OWL. 



OF all our British owls, this is by far the greatest 

 favourite with me, and I take great interest in its 

 preservation. 



Whilst temperance societies are rising up in all 

 directions to warn the thirsty sinner that gin and 

 godliness are not in unison, I could wish that some 

 benevolent person would instruct the ignorant on 

 the true nature and habits of many poor dumb 

 animals, which undergo a perpetual persecution, 

 under the erroneous idea that they are inimical to 

 the interests of man. I would willingly go twenty 

 miles on foot, over the flintiest road, to hear some 

 patroness of infant schools tell her little pupils that, 

 nowadays, there are no old women who ride through 

 the air on broomsticks, with a black cat in their 

 laps ; that ravens, owls, and magpies have long since 

 dropped all dealing with people in the other world ; 

 and that hedgehogs are clearly proved never to have 

 sucked a cow ; though our silly farmers, almost to a 

 man, would fain persuade us that these little harm- 



