the owl, in ornithology, a genus belonging to the order of accipitres. The bill is hooked, but has no cere or wax; the nostrils are covered with fetaceous feathers; the head is very large, as are also the ears and eyes; and the tongue is bifid. There are 46 species; the most remarkable are,

1. The bubo, or great-eared owl, in size is almost equal to an eagle. Irides bright yellow; head and whole body finely varied with lines, spots, and specks of black, brown, cinereous, and ferruginous. Wings long; tail short, marked with dusky bars. Legs thick, covered to the very end of the toes with a close and full down of a tefaceous colour. Claws great, much hooked, and dusky.—It has been shot in Scotland and in Yorkshire. It inhabits inaccessible rocks and desert places; and preys on hares and feathered game. Its appearance in cities was deemed an unlucky omen; Rome itself once underwent a lustration because one of them strayed into the capitol. The ancients had them in the utmost abhorrence; and thought them, like the sreech-owls, the messengers of death. Pliny styles it bubo funebris, and noctis moribunum.

Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo Saepe queri et longas in fleum duere voces. Virgil.

Perch'd on the roof, the bird of night complains, In lengthen'd shrieks and dire funeral strains.

2. The otus, or long-eared owl, is found, though not frequently, in the north of England, in Cheshire, and in Wales. Mr. Hafelquist saw it alive in Cairo, and it is not unfrequent all over Egypt. Its weight, according to Dr. Latham, is nine ounces; the length 14 inches and a half; the breadth 34; the irides are of a bright yellow; the bill black; the breast and belly are of a dull yellow, marked with flecked brown streaks pointing downwards; the thighs and vent-feathers of the same colour, but unspotted. The back and coverts of the wings are varied with deep brown and yellow; the quill-feathers of the same colour, but near the ends of the outmost is a broad bar of red; the tail is marked with dusky and reddish bars, but beneath appears ash-coloured; the horns or ears are about an inch long, and consist of six feathers variegated with yellow and black; the feet are feathered down to the claws.

3. The brachyotus, or short-eared owl, is 14 inches long; three feet broad; the head is small and hawk-like; the bill is dusky; weight 14 ounces; the circle of feathers that immediately surrounds the eyes is black; the larger circle white, terminated with tawny and black; the feathers on the head, back, and coverts of the wings, are brown, edged with pale dull yellow; the breast and belly are of the same colour, marked with a few long narrow streaks of brown pointing downwards; the quill-feathers are dusky, barred with red; the tail is of a very deep brown, adorned on each side of the shaft of the four middle feathers with a yellow circle which contains a brown spot; the tip of the tail is white. The horns of this species are very small, and each consists of only a single feather; these it can raise or depress at pleasure; and in a dead bird are with difficulty discovered. This kind is scarcer than the former; both are solitary birds, avoiding inhabited places. These species may be called long-winged owls; the wings when closed reaching beyond the end of the tail; whereas in the common kinds they fall short of it.—This is a bird of passage, and has been observed to visit Lincolnshire in the beginning of October, and to retire early in the spring; so probably, as it performs its migrations with the woodcock, its summer-retreat is Norway. During day it lies hid in long old grass; when disturbed, it seldom flies far, but will light, and sit looking at one, at which time the horns may be seen very distinctly. It has not been observed to perch on trees like other owls; it usually flies in search of prey in cloudy hazy weather. Farmers are fond of feeding these birds in the fields, as they clear them from mice. It is found frequently on the hill of Hoy in the Orkneys, where it flies about and preys by day like a hawk. It is found also, as we mentioned before, in Lancashire, which is a hilly and woody country; and in New England and Newfoundland.

4. The flammea, or common white owl. The elegant plumage of this bird makes amends for the uncouthness of its form: a circle of soft white feathers surround the eyes. The upper part of the body, the coverts, and secondary feathers of the wings, are of a fine pale yellow: on each side of the shafts are two grey and two white spots placed alternate: the exterior sides of the quill-feathers are yellow; the interior white, marked on each side with four black spots: the lower side of the body is wholly white; the interior sides of the feathers of the tail are white; the exterior marked with some obscure dusky bars; the legs are feathered to the feet: the feet are covered with short hairs: the edge of the middle claw is ferrated. The usual weight is 11 ounces; its length 14 inches; its breadth 3 feet.—This species is almost domestic; inhabiting, for the greatest part of the year, barns, hay-lofts, and other out-houses; and is as useful in clearing those places from mice as the conical cat: towards twilight it quits its perch, and takes a regular circuit round the fields, skimming along the ground in quest of field-mice, and then returns to its usual residence: in the breeding-season it takes to the eaves of churches, holes in lofty buildings, or hollows of trees. During the time the young are in the nest, the male and female alternately fall out in quest of food, make their circuit, beat the fields with the regularity of a spaniel, and drop instantly on their prey in the grass. They very seldom stay out above five minutes; return with their prey in their claws; but as it is necessary to shift it into their bill, they always alight for that purpose on the roof, before they attempt to enter their nest. This species does not hoot; but frowns and hisses in a violent manner; and while it flies along will often scream most tremendously. Its only food is mice. As the young of these birds keep their nest for a great length of time, and are fed even long after they can fly, many hundreds of mice will scarcely suffice to supply them with food. Owls eat up the bones, fur, or feathers of their prey, in form of small pellets, after they have devoured it, in the same manner as hawks do. A gentleman, on grubbing up an old pollard ash that had been the habitation of owls for many generations, found at the bottom many buffalos of this rejected stuff. Some owls, when they are satisfied, hide the remainder of their meat like dogs.

5. The fridula, or tawny owl. The female of this species weighs 19 ounces; the length is 15 inches; the breadth 2 feet 8 inches; the irides are dusky; the ears in this, as in all owls, very large; and their sense of hearing very exquisite. The colour of this kind is sufficient to distinguish it from every other: that of the back, head, coverts of the wings, and on the scapular feathers, being a fine tawny red, elegantly spotted and powdered with the black or dusky spots of various sizes; on the coverts of the wings and on the scapulars are several large white spots: the coverts of the tail are tawny, and quite free from any marks: the tail is variously blotched, barred and spotted with pale red and black; in the two middle feathers the red predominates: the breast and belly are yellowish, mixed with white, and marked with narrow black strokes pointing downwards: the legs are covered with feathers down to the toes.—This is a hardier species than the former; and the young will feed on any dead thing, whereas those of the white owl must have a constant supply of fresh meat. It is the frix of Aldrovandus, and what we call the fire-each-owl; to which the folly of superstition had given the power of preying death by its cries. The ancients believed that it sucked the blood of young children: a fact none think not incredible; for Haffelfiquet describes a species found in Syria, which frequently in the evening flies in at the windows, and destroys the helpless infant.

Nuit volant, pueroque petunt nutricis egentes, Et viviant cuneis corpora rapta suis. Carpere dicuntur labentia vi/cera roftris, Et plenum poto fanguine guttur habent. Effl illis frigibus nomen, sed nominis hujus Causa quod horrenda flendere nocte solent. Ovid Fast. vi. 135.

6. The whala, or brown owl, agrees with the former in its marks; differing only in the colours: in this, the head, wings, and back, are of a deep brown, spotted with black in the same manner as the former: the coverts of the wings and the scapulars are adorned with similar white spots: the exterior edges of the four first quill-feathers in both are ferrated: the breast in this is of a very pale ash-colour mixed with tawny, and marked with oblong jagged spots: the feet too are feathered down to the very claws: the circle round the face is ash-coloured, spotted with brown.—Both these species inhabit woods, where they reside the whole day: in the night they are very clamorous; and when they hoot, their throats are inflated to the size of an hen's egg. In the dark they approach our dwellings; and will frequently enter pigeon-houses, and make great havoc in them. They destroy numbers of little leverets, as appears by the legs frequently found in their nests. They also kill abundance of moles, and skin them with as much dexterity as a cook does a rabbit. They build in hollow trees or ruined edifices; lay four eggs, of an elliptic form, and of a whitish colour.

7. The palerina, or little owl, is very rare in England; it is sometimes found in Yorkshire, Flintshire, and also near London: in size it scarcely exceeds a thrush, though the fulness of its plumage makes it appear larger: the irides are of a light yellow; the bill of a paper-colour; the feathers that encircle the face are white tipped with black; the head brown, spotted with white; on the breast is a mixture of white and brown; the belly is white, marked with a few brown spots; the tail of the same colour with the back; in each feather barred with white; in each adorned with circular white spots, placed opposite to one another on both sides of the shaft; the legs and feet are covered with feathers down to the claws.—The Italians make use of this owl to decoy small birds to the limed twig; the method of which is exhibited in Ollus's Uccelliera, p. 65. Mr Stewart, author of the Antiquities of Athens, informed Mr Pennant, that this species of owl was very common in Attica; that they were birds of passage, and appeared there in the beginning of April in great numbers; that they bred there; and that they retired at the same time as the storks, whose arrival they a little preceded.

8. The spectacle owl of Cayenne, which is accurately described by Dr Latham, is 21 inches in length: the upper parts of the body are of a reddish colour; the lower parts... of a rufous white; the head and neck are white, and not so full of feathers as those of owls generally are, and from this circumstance it appears not unlike a hawk: a large patch of dark brown surrounds each eye, giving the bird much the appearance of wearing spectacles; the legs are covered with feathers quite to the toes, and are of a yellowish colour. A specimen of this curious bird may be seen in the Leverian museum.