BRITISH BIRDS. 51 



THE Owl is distinguished, among birds of the 

 rapacious kind, by peculiar and striking characters : 

 its outward appearance is not more singular than 

 its habits and dispositions : unable to bear the 

 brighter light of the sun, it retires to some lonely 

 retreat, where it passes the day in silence and 

 obscurity; but at the approach of evening, when 

 all nature is desirous of repose, and the smaller 

 animals, which are its principal food, are seeking 

 their nestling places, the Owl comes forth from 

 its lurking holes in quest of prey. Its eyes are 

 admirably adapted for this purpose, being so 

 formed as to distinguish objects with greater 

 facility in the dusk than in broad day-light. Its 

 flight is low and silent during its nocturnal excur- 

 sions, and when it rests, it is then only known by 

 the frightful and reiterated cries, with which it 

 interrupts the silence of the night. If forced from 

 its retreat during the day, its flight is broken and 

 interrupted, and it is sometimes attended by num- 

 bers of small birds, who, seeing its embarrassment, 

 pursue it with incessant cries, tormenting it with 

 their movements : the Jay, Thrush, Blackbird, Red- 

 breast, Titmouse, and others, all assemble to hurry 

 and perplex it. During all this, the Owl remains 

 perched upon the branch of a tree, and answers 

 them only with awkward and insignificant gestures, 

 turning his head, eyes, and body, with all the 

 appearance of mockery and affectation. All the 

 species of Owls, however, are not alike dazzled and 



