AVES— OWL. 



463 



THE EUROPEAN HORNED OWL, OR 

 EAGLE OWL,i 



At first view appears as large as an eagle, though when he comes to be 

 observed more closely, he will be found much less, being but two feet in 

 length. His eyes are large and transparent, encircled with an orange 

 colored iris ; his ears are large and deep ; his plumage is of reddish brown, 

 marked on the back with black and yellow spots, and yellow only upon the 

 belly. To its ofispring it is very affectionate, and if they are taken from the 

 nest and confined, it will assiduously supply them with food. This, how- 

 ever, it accomplishes with such secrecy and sagacity, that it is almost 

 impossible to detect it in the act. This bird has been seen in Scotland, and 

 in Yorkshire, but is not common in England. 



All birds of the owl kind have one common mark, by which they are 

 distinguished from others; their eyes, like those of tigers and cats, are 

 formed for seeing better in the dusk, than in the broad glare of sunshine. 

 The pupil, in fact, is capable of opening very wide, or shutting very close ; 

 and, by contracting it, the brighter light of the day, which would act too 



1 Strix bubo, Lix. The gem s Strix has the bill bent from its oriein ; base surrounded 

 by a cere, covered wholly or in part by stifl' hairs ; head larg'e, mucn feathered ; nostrils 

 lateral, ]iierced m the anterior marifin of the cere, rounded, open, concealed bj' haiis 

 directed forwards ; eyes very lars^e, orbits surrounded by feathers ; legs feathered, often to 

 the claws ; three toes before and one behind, separate, the exterior reversible ; the first 

 wing feathers dentated on their exterior border, the third the longest. 



