OWLS* 
183 
number, and it was suspected that tbe pond had 
been poached, and other persons were therefore 
appointed to watch ; when, lo ! the poachers proved 
to be Owls, which alighted on the edge of the water, 
and there waited the approach of the fish : as soon as 
these came within reach, they were captured and de- 
voured. This testimony has since been corroborated 
by another witness, who, at twilight in July, happened 
to be standing on the middle of a bridge, watching 
an Owl carrying mice to its nest, when suddenly he 
observed it to drop perpendicularly into the water. 
At first, he thought it had met with an accident, 
or had been seized with some sort of fit, but before 
he could reach the end of the bridge in search of a 
boat, he saw it rise out of the water with a fish in its 
claws, and convey it to its nest. It has been con- 
jectured by some, that as fish are attracted by a light 
or any shining substance, there may be a luminous 
appearance in the large round and bright eyes of an 
Owl, like those of a cat, which are known to all for 
their glaring in the dark, by which the fish are at- 
tracted within reach of its beak or claws. How far 
this conjecture may be true we know not, but it 
is worthy of consideration, on account of a very 
singular power possessed by one of the American 
Bitterns, which has been confirmed by several wit- 
nesses whose veracity it would be impossible to 
doubt. This bird, which lives almost entirely on 
fish, when in pursuit of prey decoys them within 
reach by a light from its breast of considerable bril- 
liancy, described by those who have seen it, 44 as 
equal to the light of a common torch.” Whether 
it has the power of increasing or diminishing, or 
