“Owls,” continued Uncle Thomas, “have been remarked as showing very great affection for their young, frequently visiting them and feeding them long after they have been taken from the nest, and even when placed in a state of confinement. It is thus that we get glimpses of the surpassing wisdom and beauty of the works of the Almighty. The whole of the Owl tribe, as I have already told you, are extremely voracious feeders; and in the earlier stages of their existence, from the time that they leave the nest until their powers are sufficiently matured to enable them to provide entirely for themselves, they must be unable to procure sufficient food to satisfy their almost insatiable appetite. Here, then, is both the necessity and the cause for this extraordinary affection, of which I will by and by give you one or two examples. If the parent Owls were not endowed with this extraordinary affection, the young would starve, and the race soon become extinct. A young Owl having, on one occasion, escaped from the nest before it was fully fledged, was caught and placed in a hen-coop. To the surprise of the captors, in the morning a fine young Partridge was found lying dead before the door of its place of confinement. For fourteen days the same mark of attention was repeated, the provision sometimes consisting of one kind, and sometimes of another. Though he well knew whence the supply proceeded, the gentleman to whom the captured bird belonged kept watch for several nights, accompanied by his servant, to observe when and how the supply was brought, but they watched in vain. So long as they remained at the window nothing was brought, but whenever it was left for a short time unoccupied, the Owls deposited their provision and escaped unobserved. This continued till the usual time when the Owls leave their young to shift for themselves.” “I suppose if one was to attempt to rob an Owl’s nest of its young, it would fight very fiercely,” said Harry. “Some of the species are occasionally very bold in defence of their nestlings,” said Uncle Thomas; “and, if their territory is invaded, evince great alarm. A carpenter, some years ago, passing through a field near Gloucester, was suddenly attacked by an Owl that had a nest in a tree near the pathway. It flew at his head, and the man struck at it with his adze that he had in his hand, but missed his blow. The enraged bird repeated the attack, and fastening her talons in his face, lacerated him very severely.