6 
FOWLS OF THE AIR. 
Besides innumerable counterfeits, thousands of the genuine article 
might be seen flaunting in the streets—evidence of the slaughter 
that had been wrought among one of the most beneficent families 
of birds. The nature of these plumes might itself have testified 
to the usefulness of the original owner—to the thoughtlessness of 
the borrower—for the structure of an owl’s wing coverts is 
specially adapted to noiseless flight. The importance to the owl 
of being able to fly silently lies in his nocturnal habits, and in 
the keen sense of hearing possessed by his chief prey—rats, mice, 
and voles. 
The services rendered to farmers, gardeners, millers, and indeed 
to all rural householders, by a pair of owls, is quite beyond calcu¬ 
lation. And how do we reward them ? By shooting down this 
beautiful nocturnal police, savagely tearing out wing and tail 
coverts, fixing them on our feast-day hats for a few weeks, and 
then casting them on the cinder heap. 
To man, we are told, was committed the privilege of devising 
names for all animated nature. He has, with questionable modesty, 
reserved for his own species the title of Homo sapiens —Man the 
Wise. Sometimes there is forced upon one the reflection that one 
of two courses is necessary: either a new classification and re¬ 
naming of species, or the abandonment of certain practices which 
make the old nomenclature inappropriate. It would be more 
creditable to our intelligence if, assuming it to be necessary for 
ladies to display the spoils of animated nature in their attire, 
they should adopt the fashion of wearing the carcases of rats, 
mice, and other furred marauders on their heads. 
So much for Man the Wise ; now for an instance of Man the 
Merciful. 
Reference has been made to the “ osprey ” plumes so highly 
prized in bonnet shops. These delicate sprays have quite as much 
to do with alligators as with ospreys. They are produced by two 
or three species of heron of fairylike beauty. To realize their 
exceeding loveliness let the reader turn to the plates of the Great 
White Heron (Ardea alba) and the Little Egret (Ardea garzetta ), 
given in Parts XIV. and XV. of Lord Lilford’s “ Coloured Figures of 
