90 
THE OWL. 
rapping that everybody in the house must 
hear it. Then he would hook himself again 
to the top of the cage, and finish his night's 
rest. 
But imprisonment did not agree with him ; 
and in a very little time he drooped and died. 
CHAPTER IX 
THE OWL. 
Night is the season of rest ; and no sooner is 
the curtain of darkness drawn round us, than 
the birds, who have been on the wing all 
day, retire to their nests to slumber, until the 
first rosy streak of morning shall wake them 
up again. But in the evening twilight, when 
the other birds are preparing for repose, issues 
forth the owl. 
He has been lying hidden in the cleft of a 
tree, or in the tangled foliage ; for his eyes are 
not made to endure the glare of the sun. It 
would dazzle him ; and he would flutter about 
here and there, as if he were blind, or else 
bereft of his senses. 
