ORDER ACCIPITRES. 251 



talons, and thus, in a bended position, swallows its food. It 

 kills its prey by striking it violently with the foot. It prefers 

 living to dead animals, which distinguishes it from the vulture 

 tribe, and flesh to fish, which characterizes it from water-birds. 

 It will also eat small tortoises, which it swallows entire, after 

 having broken the cranium. It destroys a great quantity of grass- 

 hoppers and other insects. It has a cry analogous to that of the 

 eagle, and usually walks with very long and wide steps, and for a 

 long time without slackening its pace or stopping. From this it 

 it probably derived the name of messenger. That of Secretary 

 is given it from the tuft of feathers behind the head, bearing 

 some fancied resemblance to a pen stuck behind a man's ear. 



The endless aberrations of nature from given types ; the 

 unwillingness she seems to exhibit to be shackled by general 

 universal rules ; the excursive propensities, as it were, of her 

 creative power, which defy the faculty of the zoological syste- 

 matist, are equally observable, whether we regard her works in 

 the mass or examine them in detail, whether we contemplate a 

 class, a genus, or a subordinate group. 



Thus, although we find, that the light and heat of the sun 

 are agents of a most influential character in the developement 

 of life in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms ; although 

 the rule is most extensively prevalent, that the day shall be the 

 period for activity, and the display of all the ulterior objects 

 of life, and the night for resuscitation and repose ; yet this 

 rule is by no means universal. A few beings are destined to 

 an active existence only, while all other creatures sleep, and 

 among these, in the present class, stand foremost the noc- 

 turnal birds OF PREY, THE OwLS. 



The nocturnal habits of these birds, like, indeed, all the 

 habits peculiar to any given animals, are decidedly predesti- 

 nated by their physical characters. These habits are most 

 evidently not the effect of accident, the caprice of the animal, 

 or even of involuntary instinct, uncontroulled by physical 



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