But the people of the present day have been favored to live in an age characterized in all Christian countries by the diffusion of truth and the progress of intellectual cultivation, and in which, as a peculiar feature, the physical sciences especially have tended to dispel the mists of ages. In accordance with the spirit of it, modern writers rarely resort to the adoption, even in poetic composition, of ungrounded popular errors. Thus, with no such implication, Coleridge, in Christabel, introduces the Owl in an opening chorus: “’Tis the middle of the night by the castle-clock, And the owls have awakened the crowing cock. Tu—whit!—tu-whoo! And hark again! the crowing cock How drowsily he crew.” And beautiful too is the allusion to the Owl by Longfellow, in Hyperion: “For the owl is a grave bird; a monk who chants midnight mass in the great temple of Nature.” Kirtland’s Owl, which we present to our readers in the plate now before us, is one of the most recent additions to the Ornithological Fauna of this country, and was first brought to notice by Philo R. Hoy, M. D., an eminent naturalist and physician of Racine, Wisconsin, who has ascertained its occurrence, and has succeeded in obtaining several specimens in the neighborhood of that city. It appears, however, to be by no means a common species, though having been observed in the season of incubation, as well as in the winter, it may be presumed to be a constant resident, and further investigation may bring to light full details of its history. It belongs to a group composed of several species of small owls, found in the northern regions of both continents, the most common of which, in this country, is the little Acadian Owl (_Nyctale acadica_), a curious and rather handsome little species not very well known in the rural districts, but sometimes occurring, and also occasionally captured, in the cities. It is the least of the owls of the Atlantic States. Another species is known as Tengmalm’s Owl (_N. Tengmalmii_), which inhabits the higher northern latitudes of America and Europe. Like the other small species of its family, the present Owl probably subsists on the smaller birds and quadrupeds and on insects. The last form no inconsiderable portion of the food of the smaller Owls. We have repeatedly found the remains of insects in the stomachs of several species; and in 1851, during the period of the appearance of the Seventeen-year Locust (_Cicada septemdecim_) in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, we enjoyed an opportunity, in company with several members of the Academy of Natural Sciences of this city, of observing the common Red Owl (_Ephialtes asio_) while engaged in feeding on insects of that remarkable species. It captured them principally in an apple-tree in which it was first noticed, but occasionally pursued its object to the ground, and with a degree of adroitness and avidity which fully evinced that it had been accustomed to similar occupation.