a certain forerunner
of misfortune to the hearer. In Tartary, the owl is looked upon in
another light, though not valued as it ought to be for its useful
destruction of moles, rats, and mice. The natives pay it great respect,
because they attribute to this bird the preservation of the founder of
their empire, Genghis Khan. That Prince, with his army, happened to be
surprised and put to flight by his enemies, and was forced to conceal
himself in a little coppice. An owl settled on the bush under which he
was hid, and his pursuers did not search there, as they thought it
impossible the bird would perch on a place where any man was concealed.
Thenceforth his countrymen held the owl to be a sacred bird, and every
one wore a plume of its feathers on his head.

One of the smallest of the owl tribe utters but one melancholy note now
and then. The Indians in North America whistle whenever they chance to
hear the solitary note; and if the bird does not very soon repeat his
harmless cry, the speedy death of the superstitious hearer is foreboded.
It is hence called the death bird. The voices of all carnivorous birds
and beasts are harsh, and at times hideous; and probably, like that of
the owl, which, from the width and capacity of its throat, is in some
varieties very powerful, may be intended as an alarm and warning to the
birds and animals on which they prey, to secure themselves from the
approach of their stealthy foe.

Owls are divided into two groups or families--one having two tufts of
feathers on the head, which have been called ears or horns, and are
moveable at pleasure, the others having smooth round heads without
tufts. The bills are hooked in both. There are upwards of sixty species
of owls widely spread over almost every part of the known world; of
these we may count not fewer than eight as more or less frequenting this
country. One of the largest of the tribe is the eagle hawk, or great
horned owl, the great thickness of whose plumage makes it appear nearly
as large as the eagle. Some fine preserved specimens of this
noble-looking bird may be seen in the British Museum. It is a most
powerful bird; and a specimen was captured, with great difficulty, in
1837, when it alighted upon the mast-head of a vessel off
Flamborough-head.

The amiable naturalist, Mr. Waterton, who took especial interest in the
habits of the owl, writes thus on the barn owl:--"This pretty aerial
wanderer of the night often comes into my room,