BxiRllED OWL. 
87 
tinged with green ; breast Inirred transversely with rows of brown and 
white ; belly streaked longitudinally with long stripes of broAvn, on a 
yellowish ground ; vent plain 3- ellowish white ; thighs and feathered legs 
the same, slightly pointed with brown ; toes nearly covered Avith plu- 
mage ; claws dark horn color, very sharp ; tail rounded, and remarkably 
concave below, barred with six broad bars of brown, and as many nar- 
row ones of white ; the back and shouldei's have a cast of chestnut ; at 
each internal angle of the eye is a broad spot of black ; the plumage 
of the radiated circle round the eye ends in long black hairs ; and the 
bill is encompassed by others of a longer and more bristly kind. These, 
probably, serve to guard the eye when any danger approaches it, in 
sweeping hastily through the woods ; and those usually found on Fly- 
catchers, may have the same intention to fulfil ; for on the slightest 
touch of the point of any of these hairs, the nictitating membrane was 
instantly thrown over the eye. 
The female is twenty-two inches long, and four feet in extent ; the 
chief difference of color consists in her wings being broadly spotted with 
white ; the shoulder being a plain chocolate brown ; the tail extends 
considerably beyond the tips of the wings ; the bill is much larger, and 
of a more golden yellow ; iris of the eye the same as that of the male. 
The different character of tlie feathers of this, and I believe of most 
Owls, is really surprising. Those that surround the bill, differ little 
from bristles ; those that surround the region of the eyes, are exceed- 
ing open, and unwebbed ; these are bounded by anotlier set, generally 
proceeding from the external edge of the ear, of a most peculiar, small, 
narrow, velvety kind, whose fibres are so exquisitely fine, as to be in- 
visible to the naked eye ; above, the plumage has one general character 
at the surface, calculated to repel rain and moisture; but towards the 
roots, it is of the most soft, loose, and downy substance, in nature, so 
much so, that it may be touched w'ithout being felt ; the webs of the 
wing quills are also of a delicate softness, covered with an almost im- 
perceptible hair, and edged with a loose silky down, so that the owner 
passes through the air without interrupting the most profound silence. 
Who cannot perceive the hand of God in all these things ! 
