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SPECIES' 9. STRIX NE VIA.*9
                    MOTTLED OWL.
               [Plate XIX. -Fig. 1. Female.]
.rct. Zool. 231. .2Vio. II 8.-LATIHAM, I, 126.-TuERTON, I, 167.-
                  PEALE'S .Miuseum, .No. 444.
  ON contemplating the grave and antiquated figure of this
night wanderer, so destitute of every thing like gracefulness of
shape, I can scarcely refrain from smiling at the conceit, of the
ludicrous appearance this bird must have made, had nature be-
stowed on it the powers of song, and given it the faculty of
warbling out sprightly airs, while robed in such a solemn exte-
rior. But the great God of Nature hath, in his wisdom, assigned
to this class of birds a more unsocial, and less noble, though,
perhaps, not less useful, disposition, by assimilating them, not
only in form of countenance, but in voice, manners, and appe-
tite, to some particular beasts of prey; secluding them from the
enjoyment of the gay sunshine of day, and giving them little
more than the few solitary hours of morning and evening twi-
light, to procure their food, and pursue their amours; while all
the tuneful tribes, a few excepted, are wrapt in silence and re-
pose. That their true character, however, should not be con-
cealed from those weaker animals on whom they feed, (for hea-
ven abhors deceit and hypocrisy) He has stamped their coun-
tenance with strong traits of their murderer the Cat; and birds
in this respect are, perhaps, better physiognomists than men.
  The Owl now before us is chiefly a native of the northern
regions, arriving here, with several others, about the commence-
  * Strix asio. This is the adult of the following species, and the name
asio
given to the young, must be retained for the species, as the young was first
desciibedl Scc LxINN. Sy6S. J, p. 92, No. 3, Ed. 10.