STR 
iion; so the worst -way of applying the 
strength of a liorse, is to make him carry or 
draw up hill; and three men on a steep 
hill, carrying each one hundred pounds, will 
climb up faster than a horse with three 
hundred pounds. Also, though a horse 
may draw in a round walk of eighteen feet 
diameter ; yet such a walk should not be 
less than twenty-five or thirty feet dia- 
meter. 
STREPTIUM, in botany, a genus of tlie 
Didynamia Angiospennia class and order. 
Essential character : caly.K five-tooth.ed ; 
stigma two-lipped ; drupe two lobed, each 
lobe bipartile. There is but one species, 
viz. S. asperura, this plant has a w'oody, 
perennial, short, irregular stem ; branches 
opposite, exactly four-sided, rough ; the 
height of the whole plant is from two to 
four feet ; leaves opposite, petioled, covered 
with stiff hooked hairs, from one to three 
inches long, and from one to two broad ; 
raceme terminating, or in the cleft of the 
exterior branchlets, erect, long; rachis 
four-seeded, rough ; bractes solitary, one- 
flowered. Flowers towards the bottom of 
the raceme, remote ; above approximated, 
small, white. This plant was found by Dr. 
Roxburgh only in the vicinity of Samul- 
cottah, on the terraces of the old wall of 
pagodas. It flowers during the wet and 
cold seasons ; when young it is a fair look- 
ing plant. The Telingas call it obeera. 
STRIKE, a measure of capacity, con- 
taining four bushels. 
Strike, among seamen, is a word vari- 
ously used : when a ship, in a tight, or on 
meeting with a ship of war, lets down or 
lowers her top sails, at least half-mast 
Iiigh, they say she strikes, meaning she 
yields or submits-, or pays respect to the 
ship of war. Also, when a ship touches 
ground, in shoal water, they say she strikes. 
And when a top-mast is to be taken down, 
the word of command is, strike the top- 
mast, &c. 
STRIX; the owl, in natural history, a 
genus of birds of the order Accipitres. Ge- 
neric character : the bill hooked, but not 
furnished with a cere ; nostrils oblong, co- 
vered with bristly feathers ; head, eyes, 
and ears particularly large ; tongue bifid ; 
claws hooked and sharp. Birds of this ge- 
nus are rapacious. They are seldom seen 
by day, secluding themselves in the hollows 
of trees and buildings, and unable, from the 
particular structure of the eye, to endure 
the glare of sunshine. When they do ap- 
pear in the day, they are pursued and per- 
STR 
secuted by a variety of small birds, wllb 
combine in their expressions of ridicule 
and aversion, and soon oblige them to re- 
cur again to their retreat. During the sea- 
son of general repose, they are active in 
quest of food, which in darkness they per- 
ceive with facility, and disturb the silence 
of night by loud and reiterated screams. 
Their usual prey consists of bats, mice, and 
small birds. Latham enumerates forty, and 
Ginelin fifty species. The following are the 
principal ; 
S. bubo, or the great eared owl, is nearly 
of the size of an eagle, and generally inha- 
bits sequestered and mountainous situations, 
and the clefts and caverns of rocks, rarely 
perching upon trees, or seen in the plains. 
Its nest is nearly three feet in diameter, 
and its young are seldom more than two, for 
which it provides extreme plenty and vari- 
ety. It lives on rats, frogs, and snakes, 
which it swallows intire, and leverets and 
rabbits, which it tears to pieces. The hair 
is thrown up in small balls from the sto- 
mach, and many of these may be seen in 
the places of its favourite residence. It is 
very rare in England. In Italy it has been 
trained in the manner of the hawk. 
S. otus, or the long-eared owl, is four- 
teen inches long, and is common both in 
France and England. It haunts moun- 
tainous districts and ruined buildings, and 
rarely builds a nest, generally occupying 
that of the buzzard or magpie, 
S. brachyotus, or the short-eared owl, is 
about the size of the last, and is distin- 
guished by the smallness of its upright tufts, 
or eai-s, which, after its death, are scarcely 
perceivable, and when the bird is frighted 
are considerably depressed ; but when it is 
at ease are clearly perceivable, and in an 
erect state. Its colour is of a dark brown. 
It is one of the most beautiful, or least dis- 
gusting of the genus ; is often seen in small 
companies, and sometimes in a flock of 
more than twenty, and lives chiefly on 
mice, which it watches with all the acuter 
ness and perseverance of a domestic cat, 
S. flammea, or the vi'hite owl, is fourteen 
inches long, and is frequently observable ip 
ruined and deserted buildings, though in 
towns of great population and , extent. 
These it quits by night in search of prey, 
consisting of mice and birds. It is deno- 
minated the screech owl, from the utterance 
of a screaming and terrific noise, which is 
peculiar to it, and is distinguished also by a 
snoring sound during its sleep. 
S. passerina, or the little owl, is some 
