In Texas and Mexico they usually select a hillock near marshy ground, and merely scratch a hole beneath a bush wherein to lay the two eggs of which a brood consists. Both parents sit alternately for thirty-two days, and feed each other from the crop during that period. These birds are easily tamed, and when in a state of domesticity exhibit towards their master all the fidelity of a dog. * * * * * THE OWLS. THE OWLS (_Striginæ_) constitute the last division of the extensive order RAPTORES to which we have to call the attention of our readers. These remarkable birds possess an apparently heavy, but, in reality, slender and by no means muscular body, and a large, broad, thickly-plumaged head. Their short, very decidedly arched beak terminates in a hook, and is partially covered by a cere, which is so thickly clothed with stiff bristle-like feathers as to be entirely concealed. The large eyes, which look directly forward, are without the bony ridge projecting from the brow, usually so characteristic of the Falconidæ, and are encompassed by a circle of slender, radiating, hair-like feathers, forming a _facial disc_. The ear is highly developed, and often furnished with a kind of lid; the wings are long, broad, and wedge-shaped; the tail broad and of various lengths; the short tarsi and toes are covered with feathery plumes or hairs; the outer toe is reversible, as in the Parrot, and the claws are long and sharp. The plumage of the body is composed of long, broad feathers, and is so extremely soft and downy as to render the flight of an Owl almost noiseless; the coloration is in most species sombre, and scarcely distinguishable from the bark of the trees on which they perch; in some few, on the contrary, it is comparatively bright and varied. All the members of this division possess extraordinary power of seeing in the dark, and hear with such acuteness that they can readily detect and obtain their prey in situations where sight seems impossible. As regards intelligence they are certainly behind the rest of the order; and, though generally peaceful in their disposition, will, if excited, fall upon and devour such of their companions as are aged or sick, not sparing even their own offspring. Their flight is usually slow, and their movements upon the ground extremely clumsy, but when in the trees they hop about and spring from branch to branch with great agility, sometimes amusing themselves by ducking their heads and throwing their bodies into a great variety of ludicrous attitudes. Every quarter of the globe is inhabited by these predatory birds, some species being as much at home on the icebergs of the Polar regions as others are beneath a tropical sun; they are sometimes found upon mountains, at an altitude of 15,000 feet above the level of the sea, and, though woodland regions are their favourite resorts, frequent both populous districts and desert plains.