watched a pair of these birds carry food to their young ones twelve times in twenty minutes, goes on to observe respecting the same pair, that a friend who "kept pigeons, and had often a great number of his young ones destroyed, laid it to the poor owl which visited his premises, and accordingly one moonlight night stationed himself gun in hand for the avowed purpose of destroying the feathered rascal.' He had not taken his station long before he espied the poor owl flying from the locker with a load in his claws; pop went the gun, down came the owl; when, oh! dire to relate, instead of the young pigeon, which my friend's indignation had loaded him with, it was an old barn rat nearly dead, a proof of the utility of these birds." Besides the farmers' barns, old churches, ruins, ivy-grown towers, and hollow trees, are the favourite abodes of the Barn Owl. From these solitary retreats its voice may be often heard breaking the stillness of nightfall, and striking like an omen upon the peasant's ear as at the curfew hour "he homeward plods his weary way," "when all the air a solemn stillness holds,"

"Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower
The moping Owl doth to the moon complain
Of such as wand'ring near her secret bower
Molest her ancient solitary reign."

GRAY.

But, reader, this solemn stillness, these ivy-clad ruins, mementos of the perishableness of man and his labours, the old abbey, the coeval yew-trees, the silvery moon, and the solemn-visaged owl, forming an association sanctioned by nature and poetry, ought rather to lead the mind to solemn contemplations, to Him whose word shall outlive the proudest monuments of man, day, and the sweet approach of even or morn," or the "great globe itself."

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In the ancient days of Greece and Rome this bird was emblematical of wisdom, and consecrated to Minerva ; and truly we know no other bird invested with such an air of sombre gravity.

The upper surface of this species is of a delicate tawny yellow, varied by zigzag lines of gray and brown, and

powdered with a multitude of little whitish dots; face and under parts white, some individuals having the chest dotted with brown; length thirteen inches.

Our review of the present group shall be finished with a short account of the Burrowing Owls of the plains of intertropical and southern America, a singular genus, the affinities of which are not well determined. The species are characterized by diurnal habits, a slender form of body, and elongated naked tarsi; the head is small, and the facial disc of little extent. Azara describes one of these Owls under the name of Suinda, observing that it is diurnal in its habits, and that it never enters woods or perches upon trees, "but exclusively haunts the open country where game abounds, making its nest and concealing itself in the holes or kennels of the armadillos, which are not very deep, but well lined with hay or straw. It flies by day, seldom rising above five or six feet from the ground, and looks at a distance so like a buzzard, that it deceived both Noseda and himself. It is scarce in Paraguay, though it is said to abound south of the river La Plata; but it is so quick in diving into its burrow that Azara could not procure a specimen.'

C. L. Bonaparte also describes a Burrowing Owl, (we suspect a different species from that noticed by Azara,) which is a native of "the trans-Mississippian territories of the United States," and which "resides exclusively in the villages of the marmot or prairie-dog," (Viscacha,) "whose excavations are so commodious as to render it unnecessary that our bird should dig for himself, as he is said to do in other parts of the world where no burrowing animals exist. These villages are very numerous and variable in their extent, sometimes covering only a few acres, and at others spreading over the surface of the country for miles together. They are composed of slightly elevated mounds, having the form of a truncated cone, about two feet in width at the base, and seldom rising so high as eighteen inches above the surface of the soil. The entrance is placed either at the top or on the side, and the whole mound is beaten down externally, especially at

H

the summit, resembling a much used footpath." "In all these prairie-dog villages the Burrowing Owl is seen moving briskly about, or else in small flocks scattered among the mounds, and at a distance it may be mistaken for the marmot itself when sitting erect. They manifest but little timidity, and allow themselves to be approached sufficiently close for shooting; but if alarmed, some or all of them soar away and settle down again at a short distance; if further disturbed, their flight is continued until they are no longer in view, or they descend into their dwellings, whence they are difficult to dislodge. The burrows into which these Owls have been seen to descend, on the plains of the river Platte (Plata,) where they are most numerous, were evidently excavated by the marmot, whence it has been inferred by Sury that they were either common though unfriendly residents of the same habitation, or that our Owl was the sole occupant of a burrow acquired by the right of conquest. The evidence of this was clearly presented by the ruinous condition of the burrows tenanted by the Owl, which were frequently caved in and their sides channelled by the rains, while the neat and well preserved mansion of the marmot showed the active care of a skilful and industrious owner. We have no evidence that the owl and marmot habitually resort to one burrow, yet we are well assured by Pike and others that a common danger often drives them into the same excavation, where lizards and rattlesnakes also enter for concealment and safety."

The Owl is several times noticed in the Holy Scriptures, but without reference to any species in particular, the whole race being no doubt included under the general term. We first meet with it in Leviticus xi. 16, where, with the "night-hawk," (caprimulgus,) and the "cuckoo," and the "hawk," the "owl" is ranked among birds prohibited as food.

In Job xxx. 29, the afflicted writer thus laments his condition: "I am a companion to owls;" that solitary bird of night, whose wailing tones are heard in dark secluded caverns and recesses, is an emblem of me, alone,

uncheered, and mourning in my dark hours of sorrow. The like comparison is used by the royal psalmist (see Ps. cii. 6) when in the day of trouble he prayed that his cry might come up unto God: "I am like a pelican of the wilderness; I am like an owl of the desert."

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Isaiah, foretelling the desolation of Babylon*, among other expressions tending to show the complete condition of its overthrow, says, (ch. xiii. 21), " But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there."

The prophet Micah, lamenting the consequences of the idolatry of Judah, says, I will make "mourning as the owls."

With these selected passages, which have a clear and forcible relation to the characteristic habits and tones of the birds of the present family, we may close this sketch of these nightly marauders, not without having exhibited to the attention of the reader some manifestations of that God whose designs, plans, and arrangements, whether contemplated in the schemes of creation, providence, or grace, are ever calculated to excite the loftiest conceptions of his wisdom, power, and mercy.

Numerous travellers in our own day have attested the fulfilment of this Divine prophecy. The following is Dr. Keith's summary of their reports:-"There are many dens of wild beasts in various parts: in most of the cavities are numbers of bats and owls; porcupines also abound. These caverns, over which the chambers of majesty may have been spread, are now the refuge of jackals and other savage animals. The mouths of their entrance are strewed with bones of sheep and goats; and the loathsome smell that issues from most of them is sufficient warning not to proceed into the den." Thus shall all the Divine threatenings be fulfilled in the appointed

season.

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ORDER II.

THE PASSERINE, OR INSESSORIAL ORDER.

PASSERES, Lin. INSESSORES, Vig.

LINNÆUS, in his arrangement of Ornithology, constructed the order succeeding that containing the rapacious birds, of an ill sorted union of genera, characterised by features totally distinct and opposite. This order he called Pica; and it contained the parrots, the toucans, the crows, the trogons, barbets, kingfishers, cuckoos, woodpeckers, creepers, and humming-birds, besides others. He then placed at the end of the rest another order, to which he gave the name of Passeres, and which contained the song-birds, the pigeons, the swallows, the goatsuckers, &c. These two orders thus disjoined, and thus divided into genera, which, without any natural relation to each other, were placed in close approximation, Cuvier remodelled entirely afresh; they constitute his order of "Les Passereaux," from which he excludes the parrots and such birds as have syndactylous feet, (that is, two toes before and two behind); these are however retained in the system of Mr. Vigors, where they stand as his fourth tribe of the order Insessores under the name of Scansores. With some hesitation, however, we follow Cuvier in considering these syndactylous birds as rather qualified to constitute a distinct order than a tribe. In the present arrangement of this order (namely, the insessorial birds, Insessores,) they are therefore omitted, though, as most appropriate, the name is retained, which, in his sketches of ornithology, Mr. Vigors has bestowed.

The name of Insessores alludes to the perching habits which generally obtain among the subjects of this order; other features they can scarcely be said to have in common; so that the characters by which the order is dis