THE VIRGINIAN HORNED-OWL. 
STRIX VIRGINIANA. Linn. 
ALL the preceding birds belong to that division of the 
Rapacious Order which pursue their prey in the open 
face of day, and are consequently termed Diurnal; but 
those which we have now to notice are on the contrary 
Nocturnal in their habits, and only venture abroad in 
the shades of the evening, or under cover of the darkness 
of the night. They are readily distinguished from the 
former by their short and compressed bill, curved from 
its very base; by the anterior position of their eyes, 
which are of great size and surrounded by a circular 
disc of stiff hairs and feathers, covering the base of the 
bill anteriorly and extending posteriorly over the ears, 
which, as well as the disc, vary considerably in size in 
