172 BEAKS OF OWLS. 



be considered as the lowest in the diurnal division ; 

 and this might be expected, as the nocturnal feeders — 

 the owls — are not feeders on carrion, but in general 

 kill their own game, chiefly mice, and other small 

 mammalia, which have been mentioned as forming, in 

 part, the food of the kites. 



But, though such is the general food of the majority 

 of the owls, and though they have the habit of wound- 

 ing and disabling such prey by the snap of the bill, 

 as well as by the clutch of the talons, there are some 

 of the more powerful species which have different 

 habits, and the bill differently formed, to agree with 

 those habits. These are chiefly inhabitants of the 

 north, and in certain states of the weather they come 

 abroad in the dim twilight sort of day, which, at some 

 seasons and in some states of the weather, obtains in 

 those dreary and inhospitable climes. Mammalia are 

 the general prey of those more powerful owls upon 

 such occasions ; but it is said that they also attack 

 and despatch birds, especially when these are ex- 

 hausted and overcome by the violence of the weather. 

 They have been described as giving chace on the 

 wing, but it has not been said that they kill prey in 

 the air; and indeed, the muffled feathers and soft 

 flight of owls do not fit them very well for such an 

 office. They are popularly called " eagle owls ;" and 

 if there is any propriety in the name, they should kill 

 their prey on the ground, though they may seek for, 

 and in so far follow it in the air. 



In proportion as the birds of this order depart from 

 the type of the jer-falcon, they seem to be incapable 

 of depluming their prey, or depriving it of its indi- 

 gestible covering, or taking the flesh from the bones. 

 In proportion as they are thus incapacitated, they 

 take the indigestible parts of the food into the 



