BARRED OWL. 87 



tinged with green ; breast barred transversely with rows of brown and 

 white; belly streaked longitudinally with long stripes of brown, on a 

 yellowish ground ; vent plain yellowish white ; thighs and feathered legs 

 the same, slightly pointed with brown ; toes nearly covered with' plu- 

 mage ; claws dark horn color, very sharp ; tail rounded, and remarkably 

 concave below, barred with six broad bars of brown, and as many nar- 

 row ones of white ; the back and shoulders have a cast of chestnut ; at 

 each internal angle of the eye is a broad spot of black ; the plumage 

 of the radiated circle round the eye ends in long black hairs ; and the 

 bill is encompassed by others of a longer and more bristly kind. These, 

 probably, serve to guard the eye when any danger approaches it, in 

 sweeping hastily through the woods ; and those usually found on Fly- 

 catchers, may have the same intention to fulfil ; for on the slightest 

 "^ touch of the point of any of these hairs, the nictitating membrane was 

 instantly thrown over the eye. 



The female is twenty-two inches long, and four feet in extent ; the 

 chief difi"erence of color consists in her wings being broadly spotted with 

 white ; the shoulder being a plain chocolate brown ; the tail extends 

 considerably beyond the tips of the wings ; the bill is much larger, and 

 of a more golden yellow ; iris of the eye the same as that of the male. 



The different character of the feathers of this, and I believe of most 

 Owls, is really surprising. Those that surround the bill, differ little 

 from bristles ; those that surround the region of the eyes, are exceed- 

 ing open, and unwebbed ; these are bounded by another set, generally 

 proceeding from the external edge of the ear, of a most peculiar, small, 

 narrow, velvety kind, whose fibres are so exquisitely fine, as to be in- 

 visible to the naked eye ; above, the plumage has one general character 

 at the surface, calculated to repel rain and moisture; but towards the 

 roots, it is of the most soft, loose, and downy substance, in nature, so 

 much so, that it may be touched without being felt ; the webs of the 

 wing quills are also of a delicate softness, covered with an almost im- 

 perceptible hair, and edged with a loose silky down, so that the owner 

 passes through the air without interrupting the most profound silence. 

 Who cannot perceive the hand of God in all these things ! 



