AVES. 311 
recesses of the caverns or the forest, their shrill hooting voices, and above 
all their staring goggle-like eyes, have combined to form for them attributes 
of mystery, and occasionally of veneration or of terror. Elevated by the 
refined Greeks to be the symbol of wisdom, by several modern European 
nations the owl is known by no other name than “night hag,” and its 
character regarded equally contemptuously. No other bird has flourished 
so largely amongst the poets. Virgil introduces it in various passages ; 
Shakspeare gives great effect at its expense to the exclamation of Lady 
Macbeth in the murder scene : 
« Hark! Peace! 
It was the owl that shrieked, the fatal bellman 
Which gives the stern’st good night—he is about it.” 
More pleasantly, and without such a repulsive part to play, Coleridge 
makes him sing in a chorus in “ Christabel :” 
«?Tis the middle of the night by the castle clock 
And the owls have awakened the crowing cock, 
Tu-whit !—tu-whoo ! 
And hark again !—the crowing cock 
How drowsily he crew.” 
Sub-fam. 1. Strigine, or Barn Owls. Head large with the facial disk 
complete or nearly so. Ears very large and with an operculum. Wings 
usually long; tarsi moderate ; legs long and rather slender. Size much 
varied. ; 
To this sub-family belong several of the most common American and 
European owls. The American barn owl (Strix pratincola) is a species 
which, though not abundant, is generally known. It is, notwithstanding its 
curious and rather comical physiognomy, a graceful and handsome bird. 
The common Strix flammea of Europe (pl. 104, fig. 1) very nearly 
resembles the American species, and was long considered, the same bird : 
this remark applies, in fact, to several other species found in various parts 
of the world. The European species is the bird usually alluded to by 
authors, in English literature, as “The Owl.” It is he who “mopes in the 
ivy mantled tower’ and “chaunts high mass at midnight” in many an 
abbey where no one else does nowadays. 
Two other common American species are the long-eared and the short- 
eared owls (Otus wilsonianus, and brachyotus), both of which inhabit the 
whole of North America. The latter, represented in pl. 104, fig. 2, is 
common also in Europe. It is partial to meadows and marshes, and is not 
afraid to venture from its hiding-place by daylight as are the majority of 
owls. The former is found exclusively in the deep pine or other forests, 
and is a very shy and retired species. The long-eared ow] of Europe (pi. 
104, fig. 3) much resembles that of North America. 
The barred owl (Syrnium nebulosum) is the most familiar and abundant 
of all the large North American species. It may frequently be met with 
515 
