124 
ruined edifice. They lay two or three eggs, 
which the male and female alternately sit up- 
on, and they walch over their youthful fami- 
ly with extreme care. 
These birds (like the Falcons) after de* 
vowing- their prey, emit the bones, feathers, 
hair, and other indigestible parts, at the 
mouth, in the form of little pettets. 
The Genus Strix is ranged by Linnaeus 
two sub-divisions, viz. the eared and earless. 
When nature is displayed in her whole ex- 
tent, she presents a boundless field, where the 
Various orders of being are connected by a 
perpetual succession of contiguous objects* 
She seems to pass gradually in animals from 
one to tiie other— nothing is lost in the region 
of existence. Providence has wisely ordain- 
ed thatihe smaller animals should be the most 
proline (in order, no doubt, to prevent any 
part oi her works from becoming extinct), 
immense numbers of them fall a sacrifice to 
the Falcon and other tribes of depredatory be- 
ingfs. But, as the shades of night might con- 
ceal from, destruction those classes which ap- 
