AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



MOTTLED OWL. 

 STUIX NJiVIA. 

 [Plate XIX.— Fig. 1.] 



ArcL ZooL 231. No. 118.— Latham, L 126.— Turton, L 167.— Pe ale's Museum, 



No. 444. 



ON contemplating the grave and antiquated figure of this 

 night wanderer^ so destitute of every thing like gracefulness of 

 shape, I can scarcely refrain from smiling at the conceit, of the lu- 

 dicrous appearance this bird must have made, had nature bestow- 

 ed on it the powers of song, and given it the faculty of warbling 

 out sprightly airs while robed in such a solemn exterior. But the 

 great God of Nature hath, in his wisdom, assigned to this class of 

 birds a more unsocial, and less noble, tho, perhaps, not less use- 

 ful, disposition, by assimilating them, not only in form of coun- 

 tenance, but in voice, manners, and appetite, to some particular 

 beasts of prey; secluding them from the enjoyment of the gay 

 sunshine of day, and giving them little more than the few solitary 

 hours of morning and evening twilight to procure their food and 

 pursue their amours ; while all the tuneful tribes, a few excepted^ 

 are wrapt in silence and repose. That their true character, 

 however, should not be concealed from those weaker animals on 

 whom they feed (for heaven abhors deceit and hypocrisy). He has 

 stamped their countenance with strong traits of their murderer the 

 Cat; and birds in this respect are, perhaps, better physiognomists 

 than men. 



VOL. III. K 



