^60 CLASS AVES. 



species : the particulars of these labours here, therefore, would 

 but little amuse or edify the general reader, for after all he 

 would be obliged to confess that much uncertainty still prevails 

 on the subject. 



The owls are, in fact, very distinct from the diurnal rapacious 

 birds. The former have obtuse sight, while the latter enjoy 

 that sense to an exquisite degree of perfection. The owls have 

 feathers immediately at the base of the bill, with the upper 

 mandible in some degree moveable, as in the parrots ; one of 

 their anterior toes also is capable of being turned behind, and 

 their flight is in general heavy and silent; while the diurnal ac- 

 ciptres, in general, have a denuded fleshy ridge at the base of the 

 bill, with the upper mandible perfectly fixed, all the toes fixed, 

 and a rapid, elevated, and noisy flight. In fact, there seems 

 little else common to these divisions of the birds of prey than 

 their carnivorous appetite, and consequent predacious habit. 



