S T R I X 
All the different species of owls are not equally dis¬ 
tinguished by sensibility in the organs of sight; and conse¬ 
quently not equally overpowered by the light of day. The 
great owl of North America takes considerable flights, and is 
sometimes seen chasing its prey successfully in broad day; 
while the common barn owl, far from being able to en¬ 
counter the full rays of the sun, possesses such sensibility 
of vision, that it catches mice even in the middle of the night. 
This difference in the sight of the owls, regulates the time of 
their depredations; such as nearest resemble other birds, issue 
from their retreats immediately after the setting of the sun; 
the more quick-sighted, remain concealed till later in the 
evening, when they fall with destructive success on the 
smaller birds, in the midst of that season of repose. The 
owls in general conceal themselves in some dark retreat 
during the day; the cavern of a rock, the hollow of a tree, 
or the holes of a ruinous and unfrequented castle, are the 
solitary abodes preferred by these gloomy birds: there, they 
often render the solemnity of these dreary haunts tremendous 
by their cries. The harshness of their notes, the darkness and 
silence during which they are heard, joined to the gloomy 
habitations where these birds dwell, have always strongly 
affected the imaginations of men, and given rise to melancholy 
ideas. The prejudices and weakness of the uninformed part 
of mankind, alarmed by these frightful images, have always 
led them to regard the voice of the screech-owl as a presage 
of some sad calamity that awaited them. It is only, how¬ 
ever, when the owls are stationary, that they utter these dole¬ 
ful notes; while in pursuit of their prey, they are all silent, 
as the smallest noise might alarm the animal which it is their 
endeavour to surprise. 
I.—Eared. 
1. Strixbubo; great owl, or rufous horned owl, varie- 
gated with black, brown, and ash-coloured spots and 
freckles.—The Specific Character given by Gmelin is, body 
tawny. There are three other varieties: 1. Body darker, 
with blackish wings. 2. Legs naked. 3. Blackish-yellow, 
variegated with white. This is the largest species of owl, 
and but little inferior in size to an eagle. Its general colour 
is rufous or ferruginous, varied with larger and smaller spots 
and markings of brown, black, and grey; together with 
innumerable freckles or minute specks of the same colours. 
It is found of a deeper or lighter hue, according to various 
circumstances of age, health, and climate: the larger wing 
and tail feathers are obscurely varied by dusky tranverse bars; 
the bill is black, the eyes are very large, and of a bright 
reddish or golden orange-colour; the legs are short and 
strong, thickly clothed, down to the very claws, with fine, 
downy, and setaceous plumes; the claws are extremely 
large, strong, and black. 
This species, including the varieties above enumerated, 
appears to be very generally diffused throughout the tem¬ 
perate and northern parts of the old continent, and is even 
supposed to occur both in North and South America. In 
this country it is rarely seen: in Germany it is rather com¬ 
mon. It preys, in the manner of eagles and the larger 
falcons, on hares, rabbits, and almost all kinds of birds, and 
builds its nest among the crags of rocks, or among ruined 
edifices, and lays, as it is supposed, rarely more than two 
eggs, which are larger and rounder than those of a hen, and 
of a rufous colour, blotched with variegations not much 
unlike the bird itself. 
2. Strix Virginiana, or Virginian owl.—Body above 
brown, varied with fine, zig-zag, tawny, and cinereous lines; 
beneath pale-ash, with longitudinal brown streaks; throat and 
sides of the breast orange, streaked with brown.—This is 
an inhabitant of America, and is less than the last. Ac¬ 
cording to Mr. Edwards, it approaches in magnitude nearly 
to the greatest horn or eagle owl -. the bigness of the head 
in this seems not at all inferior to that of a cat; the wing, 
when closed, measures, from the top to the ends of the quills, 
full fifteen inches; the bill is black, the upper mandible is 
hooked, and overhanging the nether, as in eagles and hawks, 
V.ol. XXIII. No. 1596, 
633 
having no angle in them, but plain on its edges; it is 
covered with a skin, in which are placed the nostrils, and 
that skin hidden with a bristly kind of grey feathers, that 
grow round the basis of the bill; the eyes are large, having 
circles round them, broad, of a bright shining gold-colour°- 
the space round the eyes, which may be called the face, is 
of a light brown colour, confusedly mixed with orange, 
gradually becoming dusky where it borders on the eyes; 
over the eyes it has white strokes; the feathers that compose 
the horns begin just above the bill, where they are intermixed 
with a little white, but as they extend onwards beyond the 
head, they become of a red-brown, clouded with dusky, and 
tipped with black ; the top of the head, neck, wings, and upper 
side of the tail, are barred across with bars of dusky-reddish ; 
the feathers between the back and wings are orange-coloured, 
tipped with white; the fore-part of the neck and breast are 
bright brown, inclining to orange, which grows fainter on 
the sides; this brown part is spotted with pretty large dark 
spots; the middle of the breast, belly, thighs, and under¬ 
side of the tail, are white, or faint ash-colour, barred trans¬ 
versely with dusky lines pretty regularly: the inside of the 
wings is coloured and variegated in the same manner ; the 
legs and toes, almost to the ends are covered with light ash- 
coloured feathers: the ends of the toes and claws are of a 
dark horn colour. 
This species occasionally varies in the cast of its colours, 
which are sometimes darker, with fewer variegations in its 
plumage.—It is found in North America, as high as Hud¬ 
son’s Bay, frequenting woody districts, and uttering, it is 
said, a most hideous noise in the woods, not unlike the hal¬ 
looing of a man. 
3. Strix Scandiaca, or Scandinavian owl.—Body whitish, 
with black spots.—It inhabits the mountains of Lapland, 
and is the size of a turkey. 
4. Strix Zeylonensis, or Ceylon owl.—Body above red¬ 
dish-brown, beneath yellowish-white; circles on the face 
reddish-brown, streaked with black. The length of this 
species is nearly two feet, and its weight about two pounds 
and three quarters. The bill is horn-coloured; the irids yel¬ 
low, the upper parts of the bill of a pale reddish-brown; the 
under parts yellowish-white; each feather appearing to be 
streaked and barred with a dusky-black ; the ears of the 
horns are short and pointed; the prime quills and tail are 
barred with black, white, and pale-red.—It is, as its name 
denotes, an inhabitant of Ceylon, where it is called Rata 
Allia. 
5. Strix Sinensis, or Chinese owl.—Body reddish-brown, 
with waved black lines, beneath streaked with reddish-black, 
and barred with white. The bill and legs are black; se¬ 
condary quill-feathers with four blackish bars.—It inhabits 
China. 
6. Strix Coromanda, or Coromandel owl.—Body above 
greyish-red, with reddish-white spots ; beneath pale-red, 
with small semilunar black spots. The bill is black; the 
irids yellow; legs reddish; cheeks white; quill and tail 
feathers barred with reddish-white.—It is found in India. 
7. Strix otus, or long-eared owl.—This, in its general 
appearance and colours ,is very strikingly allied to the Strix 
bubo, but in size it is far inferior. It is about fourteen inches 
and a half in length. This bird is fond of woody and rocky 
solitudes, and is not observed to build any nest of its own, 
but contents itself with a deserted nest of a bustard or mag¬ 
pie, and usually lays five eggs.—In North America it is 
found to inhabit the woods at a distance trom the sea-coast, 
and has been observed at Hudson’s Bay, preying by night, 
with much clamour. 
8. Strix brachyotos, or short-eared owl.—Horns short; 
body above brown ; the feathers edged with yellow ; be¬ 
neath pale-yellow, longitudinally streaked with dusky.—This 
species is found in our country, in divers other parts of Eu¬ 
rope, also in America and Siberia. The short-eared owl is 
a bird of passage, and has been observed to visit Lincoln¬ 
shire in the beginning of October, and to retire early in the 
spring; so probably, as it performs its migrations like the 
7Y woodcock 
