THE WHITE, OR SCREECH OWL.

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low. The poor Kite, either curious to observe so strange an animal, or, perhaps inquisitive to know whether it may not be eligible prey, flies after it. He approaches near, and hovers immediately over it; when the falconer, loosing a strong-winged Falcon against him, seizes him at once, and drags him into captivity.

THE WHITE, OR SCREECH OWL.

The plumage of these Owls is very elegant. A circle of soft white feathers surrounds each of the eyes. All the upper parts of the body are of a fine pale yellow color, variegated with white spots; and the under parts are entirely white. The legs are feathered down to the claws.

Incapable of seeing their prey, or even of avoiding danger sufficiently, in the full blaze of day, these Birds keep concealed, during this time, in some secure retreat suited to their gloomy habits, and there continue in solitude and silence. If they venture abroad, every thing dazzles and distracts them. Legions of Birds flock around them, and single them out as objects of derision and contempt. The Black-bird, the Thrush, the Jay, the Bunting, and the Redbreast, all come in a crowd, and employ their little arts of insult and abuse. The smallest, the feeblest, and the most contemptible enemies of this bewildered creature

are then the foremost to injure and torment him. They increase their cries and turbulence around him, flap him with their wings, and, like cowards, are ready to exhibit their courage when they are sensible that the danger is but small. The unfortunate wanderer, not knowing where he is, whom to attack, or whither to fly, patiently sits and suffers all their indignities with the utmost stupidity. An aversion which the smaller birds bear to the Owl, with a temporary assurance of their own security, urge them to pursue him, whilst they encourage each other, by their mutual cries, to lend assistance in the general cause. Bird-catchers, aware of this singular propensity, having first limed several of the outer branches of a hedge, hide them

selves near it, and imitate the cry of an Owl; when instantly all the small birds who hear it flock to the place, in hopes of their accustomed game; but, instead of meeting a stupid and dazzled antagonist, they find themselves ensnared by an artful and unrelenting foe.

This want of sight is compensated by their peculiar quickness of hearing; for the latter sense is much more acute in the Owls than it most other birds.

The White Owl generally quits its hiding place about the time of twilight, and takes a regular circuit round the fields, skimming along the ground in search of its food, which consists chiefly of Field-mice and small birds. Like the rest of its tribe, it afterwards emits the bones, feathers, hair, and other indigestible parts, at the mouth, in the form of small pellets. A gentleman, on digging up a decayed pollardash that had been frequented by Owls for many generations, found at the bottom many bushels of this kind of refuse. Sometimes these Owls, when they have satisfied their appetite, will, like Dogs, hide the remainder of their meat. Mr. Stackhouse, of Pendarvis in Cornwall, informed me, that in his pleasure-grounds he often found Shrew-mice lying in the gravel-walk, dead, but with no external wound. He conjectured that they had been struck by the Owls, in mistake for Fieldmice; and that these birds, afterwards finding their error, in having destroyed animals to which they have a natural antipathy, had left them untouched. This gentleman discovered, by accident, another of the antipathies of White Owls. A Pig having been newly killed, he offered a tame Owl a bit of the liver; but nothing, he says, could exceed the contemptuous air with which the bird spurned it from

him.

The Mogul and Kalmuck Tartars pay almost divine honors to the White Owl; for they attribute to it the preservation of Jenghis Khan, the founder of their empire. That prince, with a small army, happened to be surprised and put to flight by his enemies. Compelled to seek concealment in a coppice, an Owl settled on the bush under which he was hidden. This circumstance induced his pursuers not to search there, since they supposed it impossible that that bird would perch where any man was concealed. The Prince escaped; and thenceforth his countrymen held the White Ow! sacred, and every one wore a plume of feathers of this bird on his head. To this day, the Kalmucks continue the custom on all their great festivals; and some of the tribes have an idol, in the form of an Owl, to which they fasten the real legs of the Bird.

The Screech Owl is well known in all parts of England, from the circumstance of its frequenting churches, old houses, and uninhabited buildings; where it continues during the day, and whence, in the evening, it ranges abroad in quest of food. It received its name from the singular cry which it emits during its flight. In its repose it makes a blowing kind of noise, like the snoring of a man. The female forms no nest; but deposits her eggs, generally five or six in number, in the holes of decayed walls, or under the eaves of old buildings. While the young-ones are in the nest, the male and female alternately sally out in quest of food. They are seldom absent more than five minutes,

when they return with the prey in their claws; but, as it is necessary to shift it from these into their bill, for the purpose of feeding their young-ones, they always alight so do that before they enter the nest. As the young Owls continue for a great length of time in the nest, and are fed even long after they are able to fly, the old birds have to supply them with many hundreds of Mice; on this account they are generally considered useful animals in the destruction of vermin of this description.

THE BROWN OWL.

The Brown Owl measures somewhat more than a foot in length; and is spotted with black on the head, wings, and back. Its breast is of a pale ash-color, with dusky, jagged, longitudinal streaks; and the circle round the eyes is ash-colored, spotted with brown.

Few of the Owls are more rapacious than these. They reside in woods during the day; but at the approach of evening, when many animals, su à as Hares, Rabbits, and Partridges, come out to feed they begin to be clamorous and active; they destroy such multitudes of small animals, as, on calculation, would appear astonishing. In the dusk of the evening, the Brown Owls approach the farmers' dwellings; and frequently enter the Pigeon-houses, where they sometimes commit

BROWN OWL.

dreadful ravages. They also kill great numbers of Mice, and skin them with as much dexterity as a cook-maid does a Rabbit. They seize their prey with great ferocity, and, always beginning at the head, tear it in pieces with much violence. Were they to appear abroad at any time but in the night, when all the poultry are gone to roost, the havoc they would commit in the farm-yard would be prodigious. They do not devour every part of the animals they destroy; the hinder parts they generally leave untouched.

On examining a nest of these Owls that had in it two young ones, several pieces of Rabbits, Leverets, and other small animals, were found. The hen and one of the young ones were taken away; the other was left to entice the cock, which was absent when the nest was discovered. On the following morning there were found in the nest three young Rabbits, that had been brought to this young-one by the cock during

the night. These birds are occasionally very bold and furious in defence of their young. A carpenter some years ago, passing through a field near Gloucester, was suddenly attacked by an Owl that had a nest in a tree near the path. It flew at his head; and the man struck at it with a tool that he had in his hand, but missed his blow. The enraged bird repeated the attack; and fastening her talons in his face, lacerated him in a most shocking manner.

When these animals hoot, they inflate their throats to the size of a hen's egg. They breed in hollow trees, or ruined buildings, laying commonly four whitish oval eggs. It is not difficult to catch them in traps; or they may easily be shot in the evenings, by any person who can allure them by imitating the squeaking of a Mouse.

THE GREAT VIRGINIAN HORNED OWL.

This species, so nearly related to the Great Eared Owl of Europe, is

GREAT HORNED OWL

met with occasionally from Hudson's Bay to Florida, and in Oregon; it exists even beyond the tropics, being very probably the same bird described by Marcgrave as inhabiting the forests of Brazil. All climates are alike to this Eagle of the night, the king of the nocturnal tribe of American birds. The aboriginal inhabitants of the country dread his boding howl, dedicating his effigies to their solemnities, and, as if he were their sacred bird of Minerva, forbid the mockery of his ominous, dismal, and almost supernatural cries. His favorite resort, in the dark and im

penetrable swampy forests, where he dwells in chosen solitude

secure from the approach of every enemy, agrees with the melancholy and sinister traits of his character. To the surrounding feathered race he is the Pluto of the gloomy wilderness, and would scarcely be known out of the dismal shades where he hides, but to his victims, were he as silent as he is solitary. Among the choking, loud, gutteral sounds which he sometimes utters, in the dead of night, and with a suddenness which always alarms, because of his noiseless approach, is the 'waugh hó! 'waugh ho! which, Wilson remarks, was often uttered at the instant of sweeping down around his camp-fire. Many kinds of Owls are similarly dazzled and attracted by fire-lights, and occasionally finding no doubt, some offal or flesh, thrown out by those who encamp in the wilderness, they come round the nocturnal blaze with other motives than barely those of curiosity. The solitary travellers in these wilds, apparently scanning the sinister motive of his visits, pretend to interpret his address into "Who cooks for you all!" and with a strong gutteral pronunciation of the final syllable, to all those who have heard this his common cry, the resemblance of sound is well hit, and instantly recalls the ghastly serenade of his nocturnal majesty in a manner which is not easily forgotten. The shorter cry, which we have mentioned, makes no inconsiderable approach to that uttered by the European brother of our species, as given by Buffon, namely, 'he-hoo, 'hoo-hoo, boo-hoo, &c. The Greeks called this transatlantic species Byas, either from its note, or from the resemblance this bore to the bellowing of an Ox. The Latin name Bubo has also reference to the same note of this nocturnal bird. According to Frisch, who kept one of these birds alive, its cries varied according to circumstances; when hungry it had a muling cry like Púh. I have remarked the young, probably, of our species utter the same low, quailing cry, while yet daylight, as it sat on the low branch of a tree; the sound of both is, at times, also not unlike that made by the Hawks or diurnal birds of prey. Indeed in gloomy weather, I have seen our species on the alert, flying about many hours before dark, and uttering his call of 'ko ko, ko ko ho. Their usual prey is young Rabbits, Squirrels, Rats, Mice, Quails, and small birds of various kinds, and when these resources fail or diminish they occasionally prowl pretty boldly around the farm-yard in quest of chickens, which they seize on the roost. Indeed the European Horned Owl frequently contends with the Buzzard for its prey, and generally comes off conqueror; blind and infuriate with hunger, one of these has been known to dart even upon a man, as if for conflict, and was killed in the encounter.

THE HAWK OWL.

This remarkable species, forming a connecting link with the preceding genus of the Hawks, is nearly confined to the Arctic wilds of both continents, being frequent in Siberia and the fur countries from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific. A few stragglers, now and then, at distant intervals and in the depths of winter, penetrate on the one side into the northern parts of the United States; and, on the other, they occasionally appear