30 THE GREAT HORNED OWL. 



ing his fracture, he escaped from the keeper, and was lost seven 

 days. 



" I had been used to call him every evening with a whistle, 

 which he did not answer for six days ; but on the seventh, I 

 heard a feeble cry at a distance, whijh I judged to be that of my 

 buzzard : I repeated the whistle, and heard the same cry. I 

 went to the place whence the sound came, and at last found my 

 poor buzzard with his wing broken, who had travelled more than 

 half a league on foot to gain his asylum. Though extremely 

 reduced, he gave me many caresses. It was six weeks before 

 he was recruited, and his wounds were healed ; after which he 

 began to fly as before, and follow his old habits for about a year : 

 he then disappeared for ever. I am convinced that he was 

 killed by accident, and that he would not have forsaken me from 

 choice." 



Of the buzzard, kite, and hawk kind, above seventy species, 

 more or less diffused in different countries, have been enume- 

 rated by naturalists ; but their general propensities being nearly 

 the same, preclude the necessity of a particular delineation ; and 

 we have mentioned the great number of varieties, merely as an 

 additional instance of the endless diversity of Nature's works. 



We shall now give a concise description of a different kind 

 of rapacious birds, which, although of propensities similar to 

 those of the last described class, have different habits and a dif- 

 ferent mode of living. These are the owl kind, a sort of noc- 

 turnal robbers that are scarcely ever seen in the day, but prowl 

 about in the night, and take their prey by surprise during the 

 hours of rest and seeming security. 



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

 they are distinguished from all others. Their eyes, like those of 

 tigers, cats, and the rest of that kind of quadrupeds, are formed 

 for nocturnal vision. Their sight is dazzled by the glare of day ; 

 but they do not see best when it is totally dark, as some have 

 imagined. The dusk of the evening, or the mild glimmering of 

 moonshine, afford them the greatest facility of distinguishing 

 their prey, and such are the seasons when they make the most 

 successful depredations. 



Naturalists commonly distinguish birds of the owl kind, by dis- 

 posing them into two grand divisions, those with horns, ant 

 those without. These horns are nothing more than a few feather, 

 standing upright on each side of the head: among these, 



THE GREAT HORNED OWL 



Is entitled to the pre-eminence. It appears at first view 

 scarcely inferior to the eagle in size, but on a closer inspection 

 is found to be much less. Indeed, all sorts of owls are enveloped 



