THE OWL. 
29 
The pupil, in fact, is capable of opening very wide, or shut- 
ting very close ; and, by contracting it, the brighter light of 
the day, which would act too powerfully upon the sensi- 
bility of the eye, is excluded; while, by dilating the pupil, 
the animal takes in the more faint rays of the night, and 
thereby is enabled to spy its prey, and catch it with greater 
facility in the dark. 
But though owls are dazzled by too bright a day-light, yet 
they do not see best in the darkest nights, as some have been 
apt to imagine. 
The nights when the moon shines are the times of their 
most successful plunder; for when it is wholly dark, they 
are less qualified for seeing and pursuing their prey : except 
therefore, by moonlight, they contract the hours of their 
chase; and if they come out at the approach of dusk in the 
evening, they return before it is totally dark, and then rise 
by twilight the next morning, to pursue their game, and to 
return, in like manner, before the broad day-light begins to 
dazzle them with its splendour. . 
Yet the faculty of seeing in the night, or of being entirely 
dazzled by day, is not alike in every species of these noctur- 
nal birds. The common, white or barn owl, for instance, 
sees with such exquisite acuteness in the dark, and though 
the barn has been shut at night, and the light thus totally 
excluded, yet it perceives tfie smallest mouse that peeps 
from its hole : on the contrary, the brown horned owl is 
often seen to prowl along the hedges by day, like the spar- 
row-hawk; and sometimes with good success, 
1 he birds of the owl kind may be divided into two sorts ; 
those that have horns, and those without. These horns are 
nothing more than two or three feathers that stand up on 
each side of the head over the ear, and give this animal a 
kind of horned appearance. Of the horned kind, is the 
great eared or horned owl, which at first view appears as 
large as an eagle, though, when he comes to be observed more 
closely, he will be found much less. His eyes are large and 
transparent, encircled with an orange coloured iris : his ears 
are large and deep : liis plumage is of reddish brown, mark- 
ed on the back with black and yellow spots, and yellow only 
upon the belly. This bird has been seen in Scotland, and 
in Yorkshire, but is not common in England. 
Next to this we may class that which is called (he long- 
eared owl. It is in length fourteen inches and a half. The 
eared tufts consist of six feathers. It is a reddish brown. 
The legs are feathered down to the toes. These birds are 
seldom at the trouble of making a nest for themselves, but 
