566 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Raptores. quently cover or conceal the cere and nostrils. The eyes 

 v ~^v^-' are large, and so placed that vision is directed rather for- 

 wards than laterally, and are furnished with a nictitating 

 membrane. The tarsi, and even the toes, are closely 

 covered by short downy or hairy feathers. The outer toe 

 is versatile ; the claws extremely sharp. The plumage is 

 remarkable for its great softness. The concha of the ear 

 is for the most part very large ; and from this we may in- 

 fer that the sense of hearing is acute. 



The greater proportion of the species hunt by night, or 

 during the sweet but sombre hours of twilight. Their 

 flight is light, buoyant, noiseless, and performed by slow 

 but regular flapping of the wings. Their food, like that 

 of most birds of prey, is various ; but we believe they pre- 

 fer mice and similar small quadrupeds, probably because 

 the habits of these minute creatures are, like their own, 

 nocturnal. Owls are solitary, seldom more than a pair 

 being found together, although the woodcock owl (Otus 

 brachyotus) is found during autumn in small conjoined fa- 

 mily flocks of ten or twelve together ; and the Arkansa 

 owl of America is likewise in a manner gregarious. " There 

 is something," says Wilson, " in the character of the owl 

 so recluse, solitary, and mysterious, something so discord- 

 ant in the tones of its voice, heard only amid the silence 

 and the gloom of night, and in the most lonely and seques- 

 tered situations, as to have strongly impressed the minds 

 of mankind in general with sensations of awe and abhor- 

 rence of the whole tribe. The poets have indulged free- 

 ly in this general prejudice ; and in their descriptions and 

 delineations of midnight storms, and gloomy scenes of na- 

 ture, the owl is generally introduced to heighten the hor- 

 ror of the picture." 



The systematic arrangement of these nocturnal birds of 

 prey is as yet unsatisfactory. The following is a brief 

 view of Baron Cuvier's system. 



The genus Otus has two well-marked aigrettes, or 

 tufts of feathers, on the front of the head, capable of 

 being depressed or raised at pleasure, and the conch of 

 the ear extends semicircularly from the beak almost to 

 the top of the head, and is furnished in front with a mem- 

 branous opercle. Two British species maybe here placed, 

 the long-eared or horned owl commonly so called (Strix 

 otus), and the short-eared owl (Strix brachyotus). The 

 genus Ulula consists of species resembling the preceding 

 in the bill and auditory opening, but not possessed of ai- 

 grettes. Such is the great northern species (S. Laponi- 

 ca, Gm.). The genus Strix properly so called has also 

 large ear-openings, and wants the aigrettes, but is distin- 

 guished by the bill being comparatively straight at the 

 base, and curved towards the extremity. The facial disk 

 is strongly marked, the tarsi are feathered, and the toes 

 are haired. Example, Strix flammea, our barn or white 

 owl. In the genus Syrnium, the facial disk is formed of 

 decomposed or unwoven feathers, the collar is also large, 

 and the aigrettes wanting, but the toes are feathered. 

 See Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 6. The brown or wood owl 

 of Britain (S. aluco and stridula, Linn.) is placed here. 

 The genus Bubo has the facial disk less marked, the ai- 

 grettes conspicuous, and the toes feathered. The great 

 eagle owl of Europe (B. maximus, S. bubo, Linn.) affords 

 a good example. It inhabits the larger forests of Russia, 

 Hungary, Germany, and Switzerland, becoming very rare 

 in France, disappeariug altogether in Holland, and visit- 

 ing Great Britain as it were by chance. Here also may 

 be placed the great horned owl of America, S. Virgi- 

 niana (Plate CCCLXXXIX. fig. 8), which occurs in al- 

 most every quarter of the United States, and spreads into 

 the far fur-countries of the north, wherever there is tim- 

 ber of sufficient size to serve the purposes of nidification. 



His favourite residence, however, according to Wilson, is Raptores. 

 the dark solitudes of deep swamps, covered by a growth v— ~v~"— ' 

 of gigantic timber, from whence, so soon as evening dark- 

 ens, and the human race retire to rest, he sends forth his 

 unearthly hootings, startling the way-worn traveller by his 

 forest fire, and " making night hideous." " Along the moun- 

 tainous shores of the Ohio, and amidst the deep forests of 

 Indiana, alone, and reposing in the woods, this ghostly 

 watchman has frequently warned me of the approach of 

 morning, and aroused me by his singular exclamations, 

 sometimes sweeping down and around my fire, uttering a 

 loud and sudden waugh o ! waugh o ! sufficient to have 

 alarmed a whole garrison. He has other nocturnal solos, 

 no less melodious, one of which very strikingly resembles 

 the half-suppressed screams of a person suffocating or 

 throttled, and cannot fail of being exceedingly entertain- 

 ing to a lonely benighted traveller in the midst of an In- 

 dian wilderness." 1 The genus Noctua consists of species 

 in which the tufts or aigrettes are wanting, the concha of 

 the ear small, with an ordinary-sized opening. The facial 

 disk is likewise small and incomplete. This gives the 

 countenance a more hawk-like physiognomy ; and in ac- 

 cordance with this expression, we find the habits of the spe- 

 cies naturally more diurnal than those of many other owls. 

 We here place the northern Harfang, or great snowy owl 

 (Strix nyctea, Linn.), one of the most beautiful of the 

 group, an occasional visitant of Great Britain, and not 

 very unfrequent in the Orkney and Shetland Islands. It 

 is a common inhabitant of the arctic regions of both the 

 old and new world, from which it migrates on the ap- 

 proach of winter, but without passing to the southward of 

 the colder portions of the temperate zone. It frequently 

 hunts by day; and indeed if it did not so, what would be- 

 come of it in those far northern countries where a " sleep- 

 less summer of long light" knows not for months the re- 

 freshing influence of nocturnal darkness ? It preys not only 

 on quadrupeds and birds, but frequently strikes its talons 

 into fish, and bears them astonished from their moist abode 

 into the leafy recesses of the forest. There are few things 

 more out of place than a trout on the top a large tree. Its 

 own flesh is said to be white and well flavoured ; and when 

 in good condition, is eaten both by the native Indians and the 

 white residents in the fur-countries. Several of the small- 

 er owls are included in the present genus, such as Strix pas- 

 serina, Linn. In the genus Scops (Plate CCCLXXXIX. 

 fig. 7) the toes are naked, and the head furnished with 

 tufts ; and in certain peculiar foreign species of consider- 

 able size, the tarsi (a very unusual character) are bare 

 and reticulated. These have been formed of late into a 

 genus called Ketupa. Example, Strix Ketupa, Horsfield, 

 Temm. PI. Col. 74. 



One of the most curious of owls, in its habits, is the 

 burrowing species of the new world — Strix cunicularia of 

 Bonaparte. Its particular genus has not yet been deter- 

 mined. These birds inhabit the burrows of the marmot, 

 and consequently dwell in open plains. They seem to enjoy 

 even the broadest glare of the noon-day sun, and maybe seen 

 flying rapidly along in search of food or pleasure during 

 the prevalence of the cheerful light of day. They mani- 

 fest but little timidity, allow themselves to be approached 

 sufficiently close for shooting, and though some or all may 

 soar away, they settle down again at no great distance. If 

 further disturbed, they either take a more lengthened 

 flight, or descend into their subterranean dwellings, from 

 whence they are dislodged with difficulty. When the 

 young are only covered with down, they frequently ascend 

 the entrance to enjoy the warmth of the mid-day sun ; but 

 as soon as they are approached, they quickly retire within 

 their burrow. In North America the burrowing owl feeds 



American Ornithology, i. p. 101. 



