OWLS 



THE " hoolet" is generally regarded by the common people 

 with a sort of superstitious awe ; and, indeed, there is that 

 in its nature and habits which is apt to call forth feelings 

 of pleasure or aversion, according to the temper and cir- 

 cumstances of the observer. For my own part, I have 

 always regarded these secluded birds with peculiar favour, 

 whether watching them flitting past in the twilight, with 

 silky spectre-like flight, or reverently listening after night- 

 fall to their melancholy oft-repeated cry. Even the harsh 

 screech of the white owl is not without its charm j it 

 appears to belong to the stillness of the night. 



There are four species of owls which are emphatically 

 British. For although the Snowy Owl has been occasion- 

 ally seen and shot in the Shetland Isles, and the Great 

 Eagle Owl is sometimes met with in the hilly dis- 

 tricts of the North of England, yet they are so rare as 

 scarcely to deserve the name of British birds. At all 

 events, I know nothing of them except from report, and 

 make it my rule never to run the risk of misleading by 



