OWLS. 151 



tamed, and docile when they are tamed) which, when kept in 

 places where the air was confined, chose the window in pre- 

 ference to any darker part of the room, as a perching-place, 

 though even in that state they did not like the direct beams 

 of the sun. 



That delicate sensibility of the iris is necessary, in order 

 that the eye may adjust itself to the variable degrees of light 

 which they meet with in their nocturnal excursions. But 

 still, there is not, either from analogy or from fact, the slight- 

 est reason to believe that any owl can see in black midnight, 

 although even the blackest of that is far short of absolute 

 darkness. The small quadrupeds, upon which chiefly the owls 

 prey, have equally bright and sensitive eyes as their preyers, 

 as it is while they are out of their holes and feeding that the 

 owls capture them ; but the action of their eyes is not so well 

 seen as that of the eyes of the owls, partly because the eyes 

 of the owls are so much larger, and partly because of the 

 powerful motion of the nictitating membrane which the owl 

 is always bringing to lubricate its eyes, when the light proves 

 too strong for them. 



Owls are remarkable for the softness of their feathers, and 

 the great proportion which these form of the apparent bulk of 

 their bodies. An owl, in its plumage, looks a thick, stout, 

 and even clumsy bird ; but strip off the feathers, and it is 

 really nothing. The great owl (Strix bubo), the size of which 

 has been compared to that of the eagle, is not one-fourth of 

 the weight. 



The very name of the owl is a name of lamentation, 

 expressive of the sound of its note, which is one of the most 

 melancholy love-songs in the whole chorus of nature. Super- 

 stition has accordingly laid hold of the bird, as one of the 

 instruments by means of which to bind the ignorant in the 

 fetters of fear ; and the circumstances attendant upon the 

 owl, although they admit of being turned to better and even 



