NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY 297 



fashion, and rolling its eyes in bewildered alarm. 

 Its menaces are vain : the smallest and weakest birds 

 are its boldest tormentors, pecking it and pnlling 

 its feathers without its daring to defend itself. 



"Because of its wide-open eyes the nocturnal bird 

 of prey needs a subdued light like that of early dawn 

 and of evening dusk. It is, therefore, at nightfall 

 and at the first signs of daybreak that these birds 

 leave their retreats and seek their prey. At these 

 hours their hunt is a fruitful one, for they find the 

 rats and mice, whether those that lurk about our 

 houses and barns or those that live in the field, either 

 fast asleep or on the point of going to sleep. Moon- 

 light nights are the most favorable for the nocturnal 

 bird's purposes. Such nights are nights of plenty, 

 affording opportunity for protracted hunting and 

 many captures. 



"Let us follow the owl on its nocturnal expedition. 

 The moment is propitious, the air is calm, the moon 

 shines. The bird leaves its sylvan retreat ; it skims 

 over the open field, the meadow, the prairie; it in- 

 spects the furrows where the field-mouse lurks, the 

 long grass where it burrows, the ruins of deserted 

 buildings where both rats and mice scamper about. 



"Its flight is noiseless, its silent wing cleaving the 

 air without the faintest sound. It is careful not to 

 give the alarm to its destined victims. This noise- 

 less flight it owes to the structure of its feathers, 

 which are silky and finely divided. Nothing betrays 

 its sudden coming, and the prey is seized without 

 even suspecting the enemy's presence. An extraor- 



