GREAT HORKED OWL. 
venturing to perch on a tree. The kite per- 
ceives him from a distance: and advances, not 
to hght or attack him, but to admire his odd 
appearance ; and generally hovers about, un- 
guarded, till surprised hy the sportsman, or 
caught hy the birds of prey flown at him. 
Most of the pheasant breeders also keep 
one of these Great-Eared Owls, which they 
place in a cage among the rushes, in an open 
place, to draw together the ravens and the 
crows ; which gives them an opportunity of 
shooting and killing a greater number of these 
noisy birds, so alarming to -the young phea- 
sants. To avoid scaring the pheasants, they 
shpot at the crows with a cross-bow. 
It appears that, in this species, there is a 
first varietv, which includes a second; botli 
are found in Italv, and have been mentioned 
by Aldrovandus : *' the one may be called," 
says Buffon, the Black-Winged Great- 
Eared Owl; the second, the Naked-Footed 
Great-Eared Owl. The first differs from the 
Common Great-Eared Owl only by the co- 
lours of it's plumage, which is browner or 
blacker on the wings, the back, and the tail: 
the 
