340 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



to view; and, from the habit this Hawk has of hunting' very 

 late in the evening, many of these vermin fall to his share. 

 Though of so small and light a frame, the Hen-Harrier 

 strikes down a Mallard without difficulty, and the marsh arid 

 swamp are his favourite hunting-grounds.* We may here 

 remark, that the whole of the predaceous birds have the 

 power of rejecting from their stomach, in the form of oblong 

 balls, the undigested portions of their food, consisting of 

 bones, hair, and feathers. 



1 1 1. W L S. S T R I G I 



" The Owl shriek'd at thy birth: an evil sign." SIIAKSPEAKE. 



KING HENRY VI. Part Hi. Act v. scene 6. 



The nocturnal birds of prey form the third and last 



division of the present order, 

 and constitute the well- 

 marked family of the Owls, 

 (Fig. 262). In the dusk of 

 the evening they sally forth, 

 with eyes eminently adapted 

 for the diminished light, and 

 with wings whose movement 

 is so inaudible, that, to use the 

 words of an eloquent writer, 

 "a flake of snow is not win- 

 nowed through the air more 

 softly silent. ' ' Their strange 

 appearance, grotesque atti- 

 Fig. 262. o\vi. tudes, discordant screams or 



continuous Lootings, have made them be regarded by the 

 uneducated as birds of ill omen.f The progress of know- 

 ledge dispels these idle fears, and converts a source of terror 

 into one of the countless rills of poetry and tradition. 



Owls differ much in dimensions, some even approaching in 



* St. John's Wild Sports of the Highlands. 



f Thus among the prodigies which portended the death of Caesar: 



" Yesterday, the bird of night did sit, 



Even at noonday, upon the market-place, 



Hooting and shrieking." JULIUS C^SAE, Act i. scene 3. 



