226 TEBTEBRATE8. 



ward at pleasurQ ; and from the softness of their feathers, they 

 make little or no noise during their flight : their eyes are so con- 

 structed, that they can see more clearly in the dusk of the evening 

 than in the bright glare of day ; they have the power of shutting 

 out or admitting the light, by the contraction or dilation of the 

 pupil of the eye. It is a singular fact, that though none of the 

 nocturnal birds of prey are materially injurious to man, yet almost 

 in every country and age they have been looked upon by the 

 vulgar and superstitious as creatures of evil omen, and as the 

 heralds of death I 



The principal characters of the Owl are the following : they 

 are bill-hooked; nostrils oblong, covered with recumbent, seta- 

 ceous, that is, strong and bristly feathers; head, eyes, and ears 

 large; the tongue bifid, or divided into two, and the outer toe 

 movable backwards or forwards. 



There is evidently an adaptation of body in birds of night 

 by which they are fitted for their nocturnal pursuits. This proves 

 that their habits are not the result of caprice, or accident, or even 

 instinct uninfluenced by natural causes. The formation of the 

 owl is not suited to the full light of day ; it is so formed, that it 

 can only live in partial darkness. It cannot properly exercise its 

 sight, except in the dusk of the evening or the grey of the 

 morning. On account of the unusual largeness of the disk of the 

 pupil of the eye, the brightness of the noonday sun would dazzle 

 and blind it by an overwhelming entrance of light. But what 

 renders it unfit for vision by day qualifies it for seeing objects by 

 night. From the uncommon largeness of the pupil of its eye, the 

 rays of light, which are more widely diffused, that is, fewer in 

 number and more apart, are admitted in greater quantities into 

 the eyes of owls than into those of other birds whose eyes are 

 differently formed. The owl makes very little noise in its flight, 

 not even so much as would awake those birds which are the objects 

 of its plunder. 



The G-Reat-eared Owl, or Eagh Owl, is the largest of 

 the family. This powerful bird, not satisfied with the " rats and 

 mice and such small deer," which content the English owls, boldly 



