256 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



vagantly singular in appearance of the extraordinary 

 tribe to which they belong. 



It will easily be understood that the Barn Owl, the 

 most common of the few species that compose this 

 group, and perhaps the most extensively and abun- 

 dantly dispersed of the whole family, is not introduced 

 here on account of its rarity, but simply in contrast 

 with the bird figured at the head of the preceding 

 article. For this reason we shall abstain from giving 

 any description of a species so commonly known, and 

 pass in silence over habits with which every one is 

 more or less familiar. Its services in protecting the 

 barn and the corn-rick from the ravages of the smaller 

 quadrupeds cannot be too highly appreciated. On their 

 account it merits a better fate than that which is com- 

 monly reserved for it when taken captive by the rustic 



crew. 



