OWLS. 
243 
feathers, they have the webs with plumules dis- 
united at the tips, and either remarkably pliable, or 
separated like the teeth of a saw, allowing a free 
passage to the air, or possessing a pliability to yield 
to its pressure ; yet the proportion of the quills 
is similar to that belonging to birds endowed with 
a powerful flight, and we see its use in the easy 
light skimming or sailing near the surface of the 
ground or cover, which is capable of being for a 
long time sustained. But in addition to these 
provisions for allowing a noiseless approach to 
their prey, we find another nearly as essential, and 
where a contrary arrangement would have ren- 
dered the others useless. The colours of the 
plumage exhibit a union of tints best suited for 
concealment ; nothing marked or obtrusive, no 
bright or gaudy plumes which might quickly catch 
the eye of an otherwise unwarned prey, hut a 
chaste and harmonious blending of the more 
sombre hues, mixing as a whole into a neutral 
tint, but shewing, on close inspection, the most 
minute and delicate of Nature’s pencillings. The 
tarsi and feet, though not shewing any great 
strength, are finely formed for grasping, for the 
external toe is versatile, as in the Scansores ; and 
the foot can thus be used either in scrambling in 
the interior of some rent or chimney, or in the 
hollow of a tree, while it also becomes more com- 
plete as an organ of prehension. 
